


P5: Another Player in the Game

by Toskie



Category: Persona 3, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Minato in P5, Minor Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Two POVs, Two Velvet Rooms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 12:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 89,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18446180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toskie/pseuds/Toskie
Summary: Another player enters the game. No one but a certain party knows this, not even the rebels.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toskie here.  
> I originally only post this fic on FF.net, but then I remember I have an account here and I'm aware that a lot you guys are AO3 faithful, so I decided to post my work here as well. More tags and characters are to be added along the way.  
> I'm going to post all of the chapters I've posted for you guys to read as I'm working on new ones.  
> I hope you guys enjoy reading this fic. Leave a comment should you wish to.  
> All source materials are owned by Atlus.  
> And now, for our feature presentation.

"This is what you've been doing annually, Elizabeth?"

"Yes."

Elizabeth was minding her own business defeating Erebus yet again for another year since 2011 (that's a 7-0 record against humanity's collective wishes to die) when suddenly her sister, Margaret, and her younger brother, Theodore, came up to her with a really bad news. The Velvet Room had been sucked into an unknown realm of collective unconsciousness, Margaret and Theodore were denied access to it, Igor was captured and replaced with a fake.

Margaret told Elizabeth about the predicament, which admittedly got Elizabeth worried even though at the moment she technically has severed her ties to the Velvet Room. Elizabeth wanted to help, but she had her own reservations about it, since she had no intentions of returning anytime soon. Plus she's not going anywhere until the figure chained to the door is freed.

That's when Margaret told Elizabeth that she could help freeing the figure, but there was a catch. Said figure would have to technically go on another journey to help free the Velvet Room of its current predicament. The catch was met with mixed reactions by Elizabeth, but mostly anger, because she wanted him to be free from any ordeals, not be put into another one.

"You want to put _him_ into another year of ordeals!? He's suffered enough! He deserves to be free from this...dreaded thing. Why not entrust it to the new wild card!?"

"Sister, hear her out, please..." Theo tried to calm Elizabeth down.

"We...can't. Whoever has managed to deny us access to the Velvet Room and capture our master is not to be trifled with. He has cheated his way into his current position, and he most likely will do so again to accomplish his goal." Margaret explained.

"Why can't you just do it yourself? He's cheated, right? That would give you a right to cheat, too." Elizabeth argued the case.

"We would, but he's cheated us out of interfering, and he...he's managed to manipulate Lavenza as well. The one, or ones, attending to the new wild card are not her. They're two different beings. We can't trust them." Margaret replied with a sad tone.

"Lavenza got manipulated?" Elizabeth's expression turned from that of anger to absolute shock. "No..."

"I know it's hard to take in, but-"

"Fine, do it. Whoever this is, I'm not gonna forgive him for taking Lavenza." Elizabeth looked sharply at her older sister. "...But under a couple of conditions."

"Name them, Elizabeth." Margaret looked at Elizabeth dead-on in her eyes.

"One, I demand that I personally attend to _him._..I'll perform the fusions and manage the compendium. Two, you must stick around and look after the seal." Elizabeth met her sister's glare with her own.

"...very well. We'll fulfill our end of the deal." Margaret sighed.

Margaret put out a blank, shining card from her compendium, and pushed it up towards the face of the chained figure. The card resolved into a light that engulf around the figure, and the figure's stiff crust began to dissolve. The barbed wire wrapped around its arms disappeared, and the figure fell from its position. Elizabeth quickly acted and caught it.

Said figure opened its eyes a minute later, and was welcomed with a sight of a silver-haired woman craddling him in her arms. Elizabeth couldn't hold back her tears as she saw the blue-haired boy in the eyes.

"Elizabeth? Why...what...happened?" Minato got up, looking at himself dressed in nothing but a pair of white shorts.

"Minato..." Elizabeth embraced Minato tightly, her face buried in his chest. "You're alive..."

"Oh, yeah...I've technically been dead, haven't I?" Minato put his hand on Elizabeth's hair, stroking it lightly. He then turned on to see two more silver-haired figures, one man, one woman, walking towards him. "And you two are?"

"Pardon the circumstances under which we meet. I'm Margaret, Elizabeth's older sister. This is Theo, our younger brother. As you can probably see, we're also Velvet Room attendants, like Elizabeth." Margaret and Theo bowed at Minato as he and Elizabeth got up.

"Why are you two here?" Minato asked.

"Pardon us for the urgency. We have a pressing predicament we'd like you to help us with." Theo answered, then Margaret added to it.

"I hate to say this, but in short...the Velvet Room has fallen." Margaret went straight to the point.

"WHAT!?" Minato raised his voice slightly before clearing his throat. He's obviously worried. Even though he never showed it, he actually cared, being that it once guided him. Then he moved on to the next important question. "Is Igor alright?"

"Unfortunately, our master has been captured, and we couldn't find him. Otherwise, he'd be here with us." Theo explained, also with a sad tone.

Minato immediately realized how pressing the matter is, realizing he's probably freed because he might have to do something. "For those things to happen...do you at least know the cause?"

"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to deduce much. But the things we know for sure are that the new wild card is most likely at a major disadvantage, and his attendant has been manipulated to help achieve the perpetrator's goals." Before Minato could ask more questions, Margaret continued. "We wouldn't be here if we could address to it ourselves, but we've also been denied access to the Velvet Room. Which is why we're here."

"I see." Minato knew this was serious. Just as he embraced Elizabeth who was still burying her face in his chest, he asked another important question. "What should I do?"

"We would like you to help the current wild card, and look after him. There's no telling what's about to happen, this is as much as we can do to interfere with it. Elizabeth will personally assist you again, as always." Margaret answered.

"Here's what you need, and a set of clothing." Theo handed a duffel bag and a clean outfit to Minato.

Minato quickly put on the outfit, complete with his music player and earphones. Then he checked the bag for its contents, and picked it up.

"You've done this before, but, hold on to this." A key appeared in Minato's hand. He knows what it is, his old Velvet Key. Then a door to the outside world appeared a few steps away from him.

Minato knew the drill, and as much as he's happy to be alive again, he knew his work was cut out for him. Before Minato left, he exchanged words with Elizabeth.

"I know it's sudden, but, please be careful out there." Elizabeth tightly grips Minato's shirt, pulling his face closer to hers.

"Yeah...thanks." Minato blushed. "It's good to see you again, I miss you."

"I miss you too, Minato." Elizabeth pulled Minato closer until their lips met. Minato held Elizabeth tight as they shared a passionate kiss they last felt when he took her to his room at her request.

They let go of each other, and Minato walked to the door. Before Minato stepped out, Elizabeth said one more thing.

"We'll meet again. Be safe out there."

"Yeah, you bet." Minato walked out and the door closed.


	2. Settling In

Saturday. April 9th, 2017.

A blue-haired boy and a black-haired glasses boy walked past each other in the back streets of Yongen-jaya. The former returning to his apartment nearby and the latter walking to his new home for the upcoming school year. Apparently the former just walked out of the place the latter was about to enter. Little did they know their paths were about to intertwine in one way or another.

"...Four hours for just a single cup of joe." the manager sighed. No one who worked in a coffee shop liked those kind of people. Then again they could've charged more if they want to but they could risk getting arrested for overinflating prices.

"So, you're the guy?" the manager looked at the black-haired glasses boy.

The boy, who quickly assumed the manager as his caretaker, quickly introduced himself. "I'm Akira Kurusu, please take care of me."

"..Uh-huh, I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh?"

Sojiro was about to explain how he's related to Akira's parents when he decided to stop himself, and told Akira to follow him upstairs.

Akira was welcomed to a sight of a really cluttered attic. Dusty wooden floors, sacks of coffee beans resting in a shelf, bags of trash lying under a dusty table next to the shelf and on the opposite side of the attic, a desk covered in clear plastic sheet with books on it, a bed resting on milk crates, and cobwebs littered everywhere. In the middle of the attic was a box containing Akira's belongings sent from back home.

Sojiro fired a warning at Akira to not cause trouble when the shop closes, which the latter complied. Then he proceeded to talk about the situation which befell Akira. In Akira's memory, the offender deliberately lunged himself at a nearby guard rail and injured himself with it, but Akira knew arguing wouldn't help the matter. So Akira ended up just listening, even though it's inviting for him to raise his voice and argue when Sojiro said the following with such a condescending smile.

"In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass."

Another advice on behaving, and a drabble about how a school actually allowed Akira to transfer later, he put down his bag, and started cleaning up the place. He wiped the floor, dusted off the furnitures, took out the trash, cleaned the bed, and put the box in the shelf. Unexpectedly it took him the rest of the day to get done, but it was worth it after Sojiro stated his satisfaction over how clean the place looked.

Day over, shop closed, and it's time for Akira to call it a day. As he lay on his bed, Akira couldn't help but recounting what happened that got him into his current situation.

"Damn brat, I'll sue!"

The next thing he knew he was arrested, charged, and ruled guilty in the court. Luckily, since it's his first ever offense, the court granted him to be put on probation, and moved to Tokyo.

As his eyelids were starting to feel heavy, Akira felt his phone ringing. An app which he deleted earlier had showed up again, its icon glowing red amongst any other apps. He deleted it again without further thinking, and put his phone away. His eyes closed just moments later as he stared at the ceiling.

* * *

The bluenette decided to take a walk around the neighborhood right after he dropped his bag in the apartment. As he walked down the back streets with his earphones on his ears and hands in his pockets, he looked around his surroundings. He spotted a supermarket, a batting cage, a clinic, a coffee shop, and a laundry with a hot spring at the back. After walking around every inch of the back streets he decided to make a stop at the coffee shop.

"One house blend, please." Minato said to the manager as he sat on a bar stool.

"Are you new here? Haven't seen you around before." The manager put Minato's coffee in front of him.

"Yeah, I just arrived. I live in the apartment just around the corner."

"Ah, so we live in the same neighborhood. I'm Sojiro Sakura. I own this cafe, but my house isn't far from here. It's on the other end of the block."

Minato then introduced himself to the manager. But since he couldn't use his real name, he used the name in the falsified documents provided for him.

"I'm...Makoto Yuki. Nice to meet you, Sakura-san."

"What brings you to Tokyo, Yuki-kun?" Asked Sojiro as he moved over the table and grabbed a newspaper sitting on top of the telephone.

"I'm a transfer student." Minato replied.

"Huh, what school do you go to?"

Minato stayed silent for a while, recalling the name of the school he's about to go to in the documents. Once he remembers, he answered the question.

"Shujin Academy. I'm a third year student."

"Shujin? That's the same as someone I'm taking in starting today. Perhaps you two might get along. But be careful with him." Sojiro recalled the guy he's about to take in and his background.

"I see." Minato didn't look interested in pursuing the topic further and enjoyed his coffee, which he admittedly thought was good. Meanwhile Sojiro moves over to sit on a stool near a table where a middle-aged couple are currently sitting in with a newspaper and a pen in hand.

A good thirty minutes later, Minato decided to conclude his visit. He handed Sojiro the money and left. Along the way home, he wondered what Sojiro meant by being careful with the boy he's about to take in. He then recalled the purpose of helping the new wild card that Margaret told him. With the clues in hand, Minato thought it would be a very good idea to ask the Velvet Siblings for some descriptions whenever he decides to stop by.

As Minato stepped into his apartment, he put down his earphones and music player and started unpacking his belongings. First, he unpacked his bag, which contained extra outfits, hygiene products, money, and the falsified documents. He left the money in the bag. He put the outfits in a wardrobe, in which his school outfits were stored. He put the hygiene products in the bathroom, and the falsified documents in the drawer. He then opened a cardboard box which contained more of his belongings. Inside the box were textbooks, a set of stationery, a small safe in which he can store his money, and something he was very familiar with, a silver model gun and a belt with a holster attached to it. He put the textbooks and stationery on the table, the small safe in a compartment on the TV table, and the gun with its holster in a special compartment inside the wardrobe. The apartment was well cleaned up by the previous owner, so he didn't have to waste time cleaning up the place and was able to finish unpacking very quickly.

Minato spent the rest of the day watching TV and fiddling with his new phone. He spotted an app which icon glowed red, as if inviting itself to be opened. Minato opened it, but couldn't figure out what it's for apart from the fact that it needed him to input certain words through speech in order to proceed. Not knowing how to use the app, he closed it, and decided to call it a day.

* * *

Akira woke up in a room filled with blue. As he got up, he held his head, as if he's having a headache. Then he heard chuckles, and two children wearing blue shirt and black shorts walked to the bars. Akira got out of the bed, wanting to take a close look at the two children who seemed to look alike apart from the fact that they wore an eye patch on different eyes. He then realized his left leg was being shackled to an iron ball behind him. As he grabbed the bars, the children moved over, revealing a bald man with bloodshot eyes sitting in the middle of the room.

"Trickster... Welcome to my Velvet Room." The man said with a rather menacing tone.

"So you've come to, Inmate." The first of the children spoke up. Akira tried to yank the bars off, as if he wanted to be released, but to no avail.

"The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream." The second of the children continued.

"You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!" Said the first child with an authorizing tone.

"Welcome, I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those bound by a "contract" may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well." The man in the middle introduces himself. "Still, this is a surprise... The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a 'prisoner' of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."

"Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here." Igor then introduced his "assistants".

"Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like." Said Caroline with a hostile tone while holding a baton behind her back.

"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators." Justine continued in a calm manner. "...That is, if you remain obedient."

A drabble later, an alarm rang, signalling the end of Akira's first visit.

* * *

Minato opened his eyes to a sight of himself sitting in a chair with a lyre-shaped back. In front of him, a round table. Three other chairs were placed in the left side, right side, and across the table.

Each chairs had different people sitting in each of them. To Minato's left, Theo. To his right, Margaret. And across the table, the woman who personally demanded to assist him, Elizabeth. He could see the golden door he was chained to from a window overlooking the seal behind Elizabeth. Above the window was an elevator clock which was part of Minato's old Velvet Room.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Elizabeth greeted with a smile. "To think you would grace us with a visit sooner than expected."

"I was thinking about coming here." Minato explained. "Since I'm here, I'd like to ask you something."

"What would it be?"

"This new wild card I'm supposed to be helping...do you have any descriptions that I need to know?"

Elizabeth thought, putting a finger on her forehead before Margaret stepped in to provide the answer.

"My apologies, we have no descriptions regarding his physical characteristics, only the turn of events that put him in his current predicament."

"Still better than nothing. Shoot." Minato put his elbows on the table, his hands holding his chin, mimicking Igor's usual pose.

Margaret smiled, then turned at Minato to provide the description.

"Fate has been cruel to him." Sadness spotted from Margaret's face. "It seems the current wild card is currently going through a correctional period after he was unjustly ruled guilty for an assault that he didn't mean to conduct."

"So he's in prison?"

"Not necessarily. He is not imprisoned in the real world. But from what I could gather so far, his Velvet Room resembles that of a prison."

Minato thought about it, linking the words Sojiro said earlier with the story Margaret just told. With Sojiro telling him to be careful with the guy he's taking in, then there's a possibility that the current wild card in question might fit the description provided. Because after all, a man with a known criminal record wasn't exactly the first person anyone would befriend.

"Anything else you would like to ask, Minato?" Elizabeth said.

"Yeah." He recalled what Margaret said about "cheating" and the "disadvantage" the current wild card was facing. "Do you have any suggestions in how should I proceed with the task in hand?"

This time, it's Theo's turn to answer.

"Please refrain from using ways that would put the current wild card in a greater disadvantage than he is already in. Naturally, getting yourself found out would cause such consequences to befall him."

"So I have to help him somehow without anyone knowing, for his own safety." Minato concluded.

"Precisely. Know that every actions you make may affect his journey."

"I see. That should be enough for now." Minato decided to conclude his visit. Elizabeth, who saw Minato getting up from his chair decided to walk him to the door.

"Leaving so soon?" Elizabeth took Minato's hand.

"...Yeah, need to go back to sleep." Minato yawned.

Elizabeth chuckled. "Then have a good rest." She pulled Minato for a quick kiss before sending him to the door. "I will see you again."

...

"Still, to think we're given the opportunity to assist a very remarkable guest together like this despite the pressing predicament, it must be fate. A man who looks so nonchalant, yet possess a resolve so strong he was able to defeat what cannot be defeated. He is an interesting man indeed." Said Margaret as she looked out the window to where the golden door was in the distance.

"As they say, 'beware the quiet ones', I believe that's how the saying goes." Elizabeth chuckled. "Sister, I must apologize for releasing such anger upon you back then. It is true that I would like him to be free. But then again, for him to go on another journey albeit for a different purpose, it must be fate indeed." Elizabeth returned to her chair.

"Don't be, Elizabeth. He is your guest and someone you hold dear, after all." Margaret smiled at Elizabeth, knowing her anger was just because of the heat of the moment. "Only fate knows where it will lead him to. In the meantime, we must assist him as his attendants."


	3. First Day of School

Monday. April 11th, 2017.

_I will burn my dread..._

_Burn my dread.._

It was a few minutes before the first bell rang. The music was blasting right into his ears as Minato arrived in front of the gate to his new school, Shujin Academy. He got lost on his way to the school because he fell asleep in the train, causing him to miss his changing stop and had to take the train back to Shibuya before changing to the Ginza Line. With no time to spare, Minato walked into the school and went straight to the Faculty Office in the second floor to report to his homeroom teacher.

"Oh, can I help you?" A sleepy-faced female teacher with a unkempt bob hair wearing a yellow shirt and denim skirt asked Minato.

"I'm looking for Ms. Chouno." Minato said,

"Yes, that would be me." A rather foreign-looking female teacher spoke up and approached Minato. "Ah, you must be the transfer student for my class."

"The third-years also get a transfer student?" The sleepy-faced teacher asked her colleague.

"Yes, the news hasn't spread around that much since everyone is talking about _your_ transfer student." Ms. Chouno responded at the other teacher's question. "I'm Ms. Chouno, your homeroom teacher. I teach English. My desk is right here. Do you bring the records with you?"

"Yes." Minato handed his records for Ms. Chouno to inspect.

"Let's see... Name, Makoto Yuki. Born December 3rd, 1999 in Iwatodai..." Ms. Chouno opened the first page of the records as she sat down. She also told Minato to drag a chair and sat down beside her. She smiled as she checked Minato's academic records.

"Hmm...very good grades...you've also lived in a lot of different places..." Ms. Chouno continued as she flipped through the pages. The constant moving didn't go unnoticed by Ms. Chouno, but she didn't find it too weird, compared to another transfer student everyone had been talking about.

The flipping stopped when Ms. Chouno's eyes seem to sadden at what she was reading. "Orphaned since birth, and recently discharged from the hospital after battling a coma..." She murmured.

That earned a gaze from the sleepy-faced teacher sitting across the table towards both Minato and Ms. Chouno. "Ms. Chouno, you're not supposed to read those out loud..."

"Ah, I'm sorry, Mr. Yuki. I didn't know you had a rough past." Ms. Chouno apologized.

"My condolences, Yuki-kun." The sleepy-faced teacher followed up.

"Thank you, um..." Minato wanted to address Ms. Chouno's colleague but knowing her name.

"I'm Ms. Kawakami. I teach Japanese and I'll be stopping by your class throughout the year." The sleepy-faced teacher introduced herself to Minato.

"I'm in your care, Ma'am." Minato bowed to Ms. Kawakami.

As Ms. Chouno concluded her inspection, an announcement was made through the intercom telling the students and the teachers to go to the hall for a welcome assembly.

"Alright. That's enough for now. Here's your student ID." Ms. Chouno handed Minato his student ID. "I'm supposed to take you to go see the principal in his office first, but we have an assembly to go to. We'll go see him after that. Follow me, Mr. Yuki. Just leave your bag here."

Both Minato and Ms. Chouno stood up to leave the Faculty Office. They also noticed Ms. Kawakami's expression getting more upset.

"Let's go, Ms. Kawakami." Ms. Chouno spoke up.

"I know, but he's not here yet... Ugh, why does he have to be in my class again?" Ms. Kawakami complained.

"I sure hope he's not loitering." Ms. Chouno showed concern towards Ms. Kawakami. She turned towards Minato before leaving. "By the way, any reason why you're almost late, Mr. Yuki?"

"I missed a stop on the way." Minato explained.

"I see. Tokyo can get confusing for newcomers after all..." Ms. Chouno opened the door leading out to the corridors. "Come on, Ms. Kawakami. Don't worry about him. He'll be here eventually."

"I still kinda wish he just doesn't show up..." Ms. Kawakami sighed, got up from her desk and followed the two out of the office.

Everyone gathered at the school hall for the welcome assembly. During the assembly they listened to the principal's speech which as always felt boring to listen to, even to Minato. Following the assembly, Minato followed Ms. Chouno back to the Faculty Office for him to grab his bag, then to the Principal's Office.

"Ms. Chouno..." The principal, wearing a yellow suit greeted his visitors. "...and you must be the third-year transfer student."

Minato bowed at the principal as Ms. Chouno took out Minato's records while standing beside the principal's desk.

"I'm Mr. Kobayakawa, your principal..." The principal introduced himself as he opened the first page of Minato's records. "Yuki-kun, correct? Your guardian couldn't be present so I instead have Ms. Chouno, your homeroom teacher, take you here today..."

Minato didn't know of any guardians but he assumed Margaret and Theo somehow had a hand in enrolling him to the school. After skimming through the records, the principal spoke up again. "We've never accepted a student with circumstances like yours before, but there's always a first time for everything..." He looked at Ms. Chouno. "Please look after him. It's his final year of school and the last thing we want is to have him repeat the year..."

"I think that won't be much of a problem... As you can see, his academic records from his previous schools are splendid." Ms. Chouno pointed out.

The principal opened the academic part of Minato's records and safe to say he was quite pleasantly surprised. His facial expressions slightly softened, even turned into a smile, after reading it. "I see... It's nice to have such an exemplary student transferring here. Well, considering your recent medical condition, please just ease yourself back into school slowly. Just pass the exams and you should be fine..." He ended it with a chuckle.

Minato nodded. Although he maintained his apathetic demeanor since he's not in the mood for a little pleasantry.

"Well, let's not keep you here any longer." Seeing the transfer student looking like he's not in the mood to keep standing there, the principal cleared his throat and handed Minato's records back to Ms. Chouno. "Ms. Chouno, I believe the classes are already in session. Please take Yuki-kun to your classroom. Other students are waiting, too. I assume you've already given him his student ID?"

"Yes, principal. Please excuse us..." Ms. Chouno nodded and she lead the transfer student out of the office. "Let's go, Mr. Yuki."

During the way, they had small talks in which Ms. Chouno spoke in both Japanese and English. She was impressed with Minato's ability to engage in the conversation and understanding what she was talking about, and seemed to have taken a liking at Minato because of his aptitude. Unlike the other transfer student, Ms. Chouno had no doubts in her mind that the transfer student she's walking with was a good kid despite his cold tone of speaking.

They arrived at Classroom 3-B, in which Ms. Chouno was the homeroom teacher. Minato stopped beside the desk as Ms. Chouno did. Then he wrote his "name" on the blackboard in both Japanese and in English like it was a habit even though he's only assumed it for two days. The rambling between the students quieted down as Ms. Chouno addressed the class.

"Good morning. I'm Ms. Chouno, your homeroom teacher starting today. Since I've taught all of you in the previous years, I see no reason to further introduce myself. Before we get started, we have a new transfer student." Ms. Chouno turned towards Minato. "Please introduce yourself."

Minato bowed to the class. "I'm Makoto Yuki. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

As he got up, he could hear the mutters of the entire class and caught what some of them were saying.

"Didn't know we also get a transfer student."

"Dude, is he that problem student I've been hearing about?"

"Nah, that can't be. He doesn't look like he gives a damn at all."

"Check out those earphones..."

"He's cute, although he looks rather dead inside."

"He looks mysterious."

"His hair reminds me of a character from a really old manga."

"I wonder if he's single..."

"Alright, enough talking." Ms. Chouno spoke. She searched the class for an open desk. "Now then, please take a seat right there in the second row, third seat from the window."

Minato did as she asked, sitting down without much care for all the stares directed at him. Unlike the other transfer student who people have been talking about, he didn't particularly stand out per say although he was also a new kid despite his unknown background. But that probably wouldn't stop the entire class 3-B from being curious about him.

The teacher cleared her throat, earning attention from the class as she spoke. "Alright. I want you to raise your hand when I call your names. First up..."

* * *

_30 minutes earlier.._

Akira and a blond-haired boy he talked to earlier emerged out of a back alley leading to the school to the sight of a massive castle, complete with the school's name on the front gate. The two of them had a talk about a teacher who the blond-haired boy seemed to have sour feelings to. He shrugged off the topic after knowing Akira didn't have a clue to what he was rambling about. In front of the castle, both of them shared glances at each other, with the blond-haired boy knowing they were going the right way to the school.

"Wha...? We didn't...come the wrong way though... Yeah, this should be right."

Still, the absurd sight of the school taking form of a castle didn't stop the two of them from walking in, even though no one in their right minds would think that was actually Shujin Academy.

"Th-that's weird. Where's the school?" The two of them looked around the castle's front atrium.

"Is this our school?"

"This SHOULD be the school... I think."

A few questions later, they were approached by a guard wearing full medieval armor. The blond-haired boy thought it was a student, so he decided to ask the guard. Then another guard showed up. Akira could only tapped his foot and looked at the blond-haired boy, to which he stated his lack of comprehension of the situation. Knowing something wasn't right, the two of them tried to make a run out of the place only to be surrounded by more guards.

"Take them away!" A guard commanded.

...

...

...

Akira and the blond-haired boy woke up inside a holding cell. Knowing they're not dead, and definitely not dreaming, the blond-haired boy ran to the door and shouted out asking to be released from the cell but to no affair.

"Dammit, where are we!? Is this some kinda TV set...?"

Afther hearing an unknown voice, the blond-haired boy walked back to the door with Akira following him. After looking out of the cell, he looked around to try and find a way out.

"This is real bad...! Isn't there some way outta here!? C'mon, we gotta do something!"

Inside the cell, they could see a bed, a barrel, and a set of torture chains stuck in the wall. Apparently, no one bothered taking their bags as Akira found them lying by the door.

Then the guards came up to the cell. "Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. Your charge is 'unlawful entry'. Thus, you will be sentenced to death."

"Say what!?" The blond-haired boy replied.

A figure with wavy hair dressed in a heart-patterned robe, wearing a crown, walked up to the cell with the guards making way for him. "No one's allowed to do as they please in my castle."

"Huh? Wait..." The blond-haired boy seemed to recognize him. "Is that you, Kamoshida?"

"Kamoshida?" Akira followed.

"I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it'd be you, Sakamoto... Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven't learned your lesson at all, huh?" Kamoshida(?) smirked at the blond-haired boy, then turned to Akira. "And you brought a friend this time...because you can't do anything for yourself."

The blond-haired boy, now known to Akira as Sakamoto, yanked at the bars, looking pissed at Kamoshida(?). "This ain't funny, you asshole!"

"Is that how you speak to a king? It seems you don't understand the position you're in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me - the king. The punishment for that is death."

The king smirked. The guards walked into the cell. Sakamoto shoulder-barged one of the guards, then got hit in the gut by another guard with the pommel of its sword which brought him down to his knees. Akira tried to help, but the guards didn't even flinch. Two guards held up Sakamoto, and he proceeded to beat him down.

"Hmph. Where'd your energy from earlier go?" The king spat at Sakamoto. "A peasant like you isn't worth beating. I'll have you killed right now."

Akira steeled himself. "Stop it!" It caught the king's attention.

"What...? Don't you dare tell me you don't know who I am." Akira got kicked in the gut for his trouble.

Akira tried to run up to Sakamoto only to get held to the wall by a couple of guards. It wasn't looking good for the two of them at all.

Then a voice resonated inside Akira's head.

_This is truly an unjust game... Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you..._

A butterfly appeared right in front of Akira's vision. Then another voice along with a rattle of chains resonated inside his head.

_What's the matter...? Are you simply going to watch? Are you forsaking him to save yourself?_

_Death awaits him if you do nothing. Was your previous decision a mistake then?_

Flashbacks of the time when Akira was arrested back in his hometown appeared before his eyes.

"It wasn't." Akira replied to the voice.

Akira tried to struggle himself free from the guards as Sakamoto was held up, with a sword pointed at him.

_Very well... I have heeded your resolve._

Akira cried in pain as he felt a surge in his body.

_Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I..._

_Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name, and release thy rage!_

Akira screamed one last time.

_Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!_

"Execute him!"

"That's enough!"

That once again turned everyone's attention to Akira.

As a guard raised its sword, a powerful gust of wind blew. When Akira came to, he held his face, and got a hold of what looked like a mask stuck in his face. He couldn't take it off softly, so with all his power he ripped it off. Blood splattered everywhere and flowed down his face.

He raised his head wearing a sinister smile and his irises turned yellow. A surge of power engulfed him. The blue gigantic figure which was Akira lifted itself, revealing Akira in a long coat with a black button-up vest complete with red gloves. The figure itself had primarily red limbs and wings, black torso. It sported a devilish face, complete with a black top hat to match its majestic look. With a swat of both his arms, Akira pushed the guards away. Sakamoto could only watch as all of it was unfolding before him.

 _"I am the pillager of twilight - 'Arsene'!"_ The figure spoke. _"I am the rebel's soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis."_

"Give me your power." Akira replied at Arsene.

_"Hmph, very well..."_

The king ordered his guards to kill Akira, turning into two Crypt-dweling pyromaniacs.

_"Detest the enemies, before you! Change that animosity into power...and unleash it!"_

"Arsene! Eiha!"

With Akira's command, Arsene unleashed a Curse spell which dealt substantial damage to one of the enemies. Both of them tried to attack, only for Akira to dodge them. Akira managed to kill one of them with his knife.

 _"This power of mine is yours! Kill them however you want. Run wild to your heart's content."_ Arsene talked again.

"Persona! PILLAGE HIM, ARSENE!"

Another Curse spell engulfed the one remaining enemy, and instantly defeated it.

After the battle, Akira checked to see if Sakamoto was okay. The king approached them both only to be charged down by Sakamoto. They locked the king in the cell and looked for a way out. Akira tried to barge another door open to no avail then saw a gap they could jump across. Minutes later and the alleys of holding cells don't seem to end as they emerged out of a hole in an open cell. They saw guards walking nearby as they crossed another bridge and decided to hide. As they navigated their way out, they looked at what's in some of them. People, volleyballs, people tied up and being hit with volleyballs and one strange creature. It called to both of them, asking to be released. In return, it offered to help them escape. The two of them, especially Sakamoto were hesitant. But as the guards were catching up to them, they had no choice. Akira found the keys and got it out.

"Ahhhh... Freedom never felt so good..." The creature stretched itself.

Akira petted its head, wondering what it was. "It's soft, and alive too..."

"H-hey, stop! If you touch me there I'm gonna-"

The strange creature blushed and meowed like how a normal cat would, obviously feeling comfortable with the cuddles. Sakamoto couldn't resist himself. "Hey, I want to touch the monster cat too."

"Don't call me a cat! I'm Morgana." It lashed at Sakamoto.

"Can you lead us out of here?"

"Yeah you better know the exit, you monster cat."

"Don't call me a cat, Blondie!"

"Don't call me Blondie! My name's Ryuji..."

"Whatever. You wanna escape this place in one piece, right? Follow me, and stay quiet."

The three of them hauled out as soon as they can. They managed to avoid most of the guards patrolling on the way. Just as they're about to reach a safe spot, they ran into a guard. That forced them into combat, in which Morgana stepped in and summoned his Persona. A cartoonish buff black-clad figure wielding a rapier emerged, thrusting its weapon in its signature "Z" pattern.

"Come, Zorro!"

Morgana along with Akira made quick work of the enemies.

Minutes later they made it to a safe room which Morgana showed them the way out through a ventilation shaft which lead back to the entrance of the castle. Akira and Ryuji parted ways with Morgana and returned to the real world.

"You have returned to the real world, welcome back." Said a voice from Akira's phone.

"...Does that mean we got away?"

"Probably."

"I don't know what to think anymore. What was all that anyways? That castle, and Kamoshida, and that weird cat! The hell's goin' on?"

The two of them were suddenly confronted by two patrolling police officers. Ryuji tried to reason with them, but to no avail as no one would believe they ventured into a castle which replaced the school somehow. Seeing that they won't get anything out of reasoning, Akira and Ryuji decided to make their way to school even though they know they're super late.

* * *

It's lunchtime. The classes went by rather uneventfully for Minato. He felt sleepy during the class but decided to stay up rather than acting like a slacker. Deep down he still couldn't believe that he was alive again as he looked around the classroom before grabbing his earphones. Just as he was about to drown himself in music, he heard a voice to his side. "Hey, transfer student."

He turned to find two guys standing. Overall they looked generic enough to stand out in a sea of students around him. "What?"

"I heard you committed a crime which forced you to move here. Were you imprisoned before they told you to move here?"

"What are you talking about?" Minato deadpanned.

One of the guys looked at him intently. "Come on, we heard all about it. You assaulted an adult, he sued you, and you're declared guilty in trial. Were you sentenced to prison before being moved here?"

"Why are you asking me all that?" Minato asked back.

"It's just...you have a mysterious aura around you and we don't want you to hurt us or anything..."

"You've got the wrong person." Minato said.

"Huh? I thought I heard it right. There's a transfer student with a criminal record enrolling here."

Minato secretly knew that there's such a person from the information he got from the Velvet Siblings, but he decided to keep it to himself and play dumb. He still needed to confirm whether the person in question was indeed the wild card he's going to help. "Never heard of him."

"Hey, you two! What are you talking about?" Another student approached them.

"We're just asking him if he's the problem transfer student everyone's been gossiping about."

"No, that's not the guy. I heard from a trustworthy source that the guy's a second-year, Ms. Kawakami's class."

"Seriously?"

"Speaking of the guy, he's not around at all. I passed by the Faculty Office just now and Ms. Kawakami looked all depressed. I seriously feel really bad for her."

"Huh, not only he assaulted a guy, he also cut classes? Man, talk about a delinquent. Why did someone allow him to enroll here?"

"Don't know. Maybe someone's trying to kiss some asses."

Minato was already drowned in music when one of the students patted his shoulder, wanting his attention. Minato only reacted by lowering one side of his earphones.

"Anyway, sorry for bothering you. Umm, your name's Yuki, right? If you see that transfer student, don't try to mess with him if you don't wanna get hurt. You never know what kinda guy he's like."

"I'll keep that in mind." Minato replied.

The three of them left. Minato turned around to see who else was trying to talk to him. Then a diligent-looking student sitting beside him sighed as he watched the three guys left the room.

"They just can't give it a rest, huh? Seriously, we're all seniors here. We've got more important stuff to do, like preparing for college entrance tests."

"Hmm?" Minato looked at the diligent-looking student. She didn't wear the school jacket but instead wore a black vest over her turtleneck shirt and had a short dark brown hair with a matching hairband which looked like braids.

"Oh, I'm Makoto Niijima. Nice to meet you, Yuki-kun. It's weird that we share the same first name." The diligent-looking student introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you too, Niijima-san." Minato replied.

"I'm sorry that you had to listen to all those gossips on your first day here. Just don't think about it too much. Don't worry, you're really not who they're looking for even though you know that already." Makoto explained, looking rather disappointed about all the ramblings going on.

"Whatever. It's not like I care." Minato said.

"By the way, I'm about to go down and get some lunch. Wanna join me?" Makoto got up from her seat.

"Go on ahead." Minato put the earphones back on and drowned himself in more music.

* * *

"Unbelievable..." Ms. Kawakami sighed at the sight of her transfer student who just showed up. "Being over half a day late on your first day...? Can you explain yourself?"

"Sorry, sensei. My train was late." Akira lied.

Ms. Kawakami clearly didn't buy that "It's lunchtime, you know? You would've gotten here sooner if you had walked from your place. It's true the train's schedule's have been a mess due to the accident, but you're still way too late."

"Will you pull yourself together? You were given fair warning yesterday." She continued. "More importantly... I heard you were caught along with that Sakamoto-kun?"

"'That' Sakamoto? He seems nice to me." Akira replied.

"Don't get involved with him, OK? He's nothing but trouble. He wasn't like that when he was devoting his time to track and field though." She explained about Ryuji a bit, then continued. "Anyway, break's almost over. Classes will end after fifth period today because of the subway accident. I'll have you introduce yourself when class resumes. Follow me."


	4. His Re-Awakening

Tuesday. April 12th, 2017.

Minato was walking to the station from school. Although it's only been a few days, Minato had picked up a behavior people all around him seem to be doing; looking down at their phone screens. As Minato recalled, it wasn't as crazy as this back in the day. Sure internet on the phone was already a thing but he'd never thought of it as something people would be glued onto.

The app with the eye icon was flashing red again as he swiped through the list of apps. He decided to open it again only to find himself unable to operate it like last time. He then stumbled across the surprisingly not empty search history in the app. He had never used the app before, but it was strange to see something show up in the search history. He opened the search history containing only one entry in it.

"Mementos"

He tapped on the entry, and suddenly the app reacted.

"Beginning navigation."

He wondered what sort of navigation the app meant, then the app started changing the surroundings around him. People disappeared, the sky went cloudy, and he could feel a doom and gloom atmosphere coming from the station.

His eyes widened a bit at the change of scenery. To him, it felt like the Dark Hour. But at the same time it felt different. It's as if the app had created its own Dark Hour. More surprisingly, Minato found something attached to his back. He now had a sheathed sword and a bow complete with arrows. He also had a belt with an empty holster, as if looking for a certain item to make its way home.

Minato decided to walk down the station to check it. Instead of the usual apron, he was welcomed with a set of train tracks stretched into the distance that had a barrier attached at the other end. Before he could decide on anything, he tried to get a feel for his powers. He was able to detect the power, yet since he didn't bring the Evoker with him, he had doubts about being able to do anything about it.

Regardless, he decided to walk down the tracks without flinching even one bit. about a few seconds later, he spotted a bipedal thing in the distance. Said thing spotted him, and he was forced to battle. it turned into two different creatures which according to Minato looked more like Personas than the Shadows he used to fight back in the day.

In front of him were what he's sure was a Pixie but identified itself as a "Beguiling Girl" and another one naming itself a "Gallows Flower". The Gallows Flower attacked first which Minato easily avoided while the Beguiling Girl only stared at him. Then it was Minato's time to attack when suddenly the power he felt earlier surged all over his body and induced a bit of headache.

_It has been a long time..._

"Huh?"

_Thou who hast completed thy journey and found the answer to life, now embarketh on another journey..._

_Very well, it is an honor to be by thy side to face these hardships once more..._

_Henceforth, call to me. My songs shall guide thee to victory once more!_

"...That's right." Minato chuckled. He could feel a mask attached to his face. The mask was colorless, like it was made of glass.

_Thou art I, and I am thou..._

_Thou who once redeemed man hast awakened to the power once more..._

_From the sea of thy soul, I cometh..._

"Persona...!"

The mask that was on Minato's face floated up into the air, breaking into pieces like glass. The shards form a two spirals as a figure took shape. It had white hair with a style alike to its user, with a red scarf wrapped around its neck and head. It had a primarily turquoise body. Its mid section resembled that of a loudspeaker. Its limbs were prosthetic with metallic upper part and white lower parts. It carried a lyre on its back.

_I am the master of strings, Orpheus!_

_"The power of endless possibilities is yours once again. Seize it, for you are to emerge as victor over the distorted desires of man!"_

"GO! ORPHEUS!"

As Minato's mind raced, Orpheus grabbed its lyre and played it while letting out a scream which lit up its eyes and mouth, casting a Fire spell stronger than he thought. It hit the Gallows Flower fair and square, knocking it down. He instinctively moved as if on cue, brandishing his bow and drew an arrow before firing it at the Beguiling Girl. The shot knocked it down although it's not dead yet.

The quick work from their assailant made both creatures realize they were overwhelmed and resorted to something which he would never thought possible; talking and begging for forgiveness.

"Wait, no! Spare us!" The Gallows Flower begged.

"Huh? You can talk?" Minato was surprised.

"Wait, that strength of yours just now... I know you!" The Beguiling Girl spoke.

"What...? You too?" Minato turned to the Pixie.

"Yes. It's been a long time... You recognize me, don't you?"

"Pixie, right...? I never thought we'd be facing each other as enemies..." Minato answered.

"Who is he?" The Gallows Flower asked the Beguiling Girl.

"He...is a remarkable man. To think we'd meet again like this." The Beguiling Girl explained. "Now then, what do you need for us to be spared?"

"..." Minato thought for a while, then came up with an idea. "Can you become a Persona again?"

"Haha, as straightforward as ever. Very well. I am you, and you're me. I, Pixie, shall enter the sea of your souls." The Pixie turned into a mask and merged with Minato's mask.

"Now then... I don't know you." Minato turned to the Gallows Flower.

"Uhh, if you want me to cooperate with you, then it can't be helped." It replied.

Minato nodded.

"They call me, Mandrake. I shall help you and enter the sea of your souls." The Mandrake too turned into a mask and merged with Minato's.

Battle over, Minato has obtained two new Personas. "Well, that's a new way to obtain them..."

Everything had changed so much since Minato was last alive and he felt slightly overwhelmed by what he's discovering so far. Minato had no time to think about it for the time being as he spotted a small shadow. Luckily he was quite far from it to be downright spotted. Minato readied his bow, aimed at the shadow and took his shot. The arrow hit the shadow right on its face, and turned into yet another one he seemed familiar with, a Jack-o-Lantern. For some reason, it named itself the "Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniac".

It attacked first, slightly damaging Minato with a fire spell. Minato shrugged it off, readied his bow again, and knocked it down with shot. It instantly surrendered and resorted to reason.

"Hee? It's you, ho... Never thought I'd see you again, ho!" The Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniac spoke up with a rather gloomy tone.

"Need a friend to talk?" Minato asked, although he was still surprised at hearing it talking like how it was in the previous battle.

"Yes, hee-ho! Hopefully we can get along, ho!"

Minato remembered that verbal tic very well. It really was one of the Jacks. "Then let's talk." Minato smiled.

"Humans always want an autograph or a self-hee when meeting the famous ones among themselves, ho." The Jack-o-Lantern pondered.

"Yeah, that's kind of our habit, ho." Minato went along with the verbal tic although he didn't know what that "selfie" thing was yet. "What are you getting at, ho?"

"Hee... Right now I feel like one of those humans meeting a famous figure, ho." It replied.

"Then would you like my autograph or a self-hee, ho?"

"I could ask for one of those, but knowing it's you, I want to be by your side, ho..."

"How touching... Come hee-re, ho!" Minato chuckled.

"I'm Jack-o-Lantern, ho! I am you, and you're me!" The Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniac turned into a mask and merged with Minato's.

Another battle over, another Persona obtained. Minato felt more surge of power inside of him after the two battles. He decided to keep going further in. The tracks were empty, and there were no enemies sighted as he came to an intersection ahead. He thought about going to one of the branches until suddenly he heard a very familiar sound of chains rattling.

He knew it only meant one thing. The source of the sound in question soon came into view in the distance. Knowing this, he ran as fast as he can as it seemed to be catching up to him. He was surprised to find out that he went quite far in despite only battling twice. He eventually managed to get back to the starting point and lose the being that was bearing down on him. He quickly got up the stairs to the exit of the station and the world around him returned back to normal.

"You have returned to the real world." Said a voice from his phone.

He looked at his phone, then looked around. Knowing he was safe, he breathed a sigh of relief. He got so worked up from running that he had to sit on the floor leaning at one of the station's walls. The labyrinth he ventured to earlier reminded him of Tartarus but it's bigger than he thought. The fact that the enemies now could talk, and had their own personalities was also new information for him. He's used to their powers before but never as something that had personalities, like humans.

Then there's the mask in his face and the weapons which attached themselves to his back. He thought the weapons were somewhat a given and thanked whatever wind gave him those, but he didn't think there would be another way to summon a Persona. Whether or not that would make the Evoker moot remained to be seen.

To his surprise, it's almost dark out. He hurried to the station to catch his train home. With his powers awakened once more, he expected himself to be summoned to the Velvet Room soon.

* * *

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Elizabeth greeted Minato.

On the table, Minato could see a card showing the Fool Arcana, the same as it was the first time he awakened.

"Ah, it seems like Orpheus has heeded your call once more. Very interesting." Elizabeth smiled.

"As luck would have it, you seem to have retained the power of the Wild Card you once had." Margaret continued.

"Yeah. I already have four Personas in my repertoire right now." Minato smiled.

Elizabeth sat straight then relaxed. "Allow me to explain our duties. I personally will be in charge of fusions. I will also prepare a new compendium for you."

"I don't get my old compendium back?" Minato asked.

"There have been an abundance of new Personas emerging with new powers, giving you new possibilities. Please utilize them all well, hence the new compendium."

"I see."

"In addition, I am sure you're already aware of Orpheus' new capabilities, which are far more powerful compared to the first time it answered your call years ago. This, in turn, also grants you the ability to fuse far stronger Personas from the very beginning. It also bestows you the ability to carry twelve Personas right off the bat..." Elizabeth explained all of it. "I can sense it within you..."

Minato couldn't sense it, but the Velvet Room residents would never lie to their guests when it came to assisting them, so he took the explanation to heart.

Elizabeth turned to Margaret. "Margaret will be in charge of skill cards. Basically, if you would like to have a Persona learn a new skill, you can bring a skill card and the intended Persona to Margaret to have it taught."

Then she turned to Theo. "Theo will be in charge of item-related fusions. Should you wish to create an item, like a weapon, bring a blank weapon and a Persona to have Theo create a unique weapon associated with said Persona. Bear in mind that not all Personas have unique weapons associated to them. I believe you're familiar with how this works."

"I do..." Minato remembered going to the antique shop to create all the unique, ultimate weapons for his friends back in the day.

"Do you have any questions?" Elizabeth asked.

"Just one for now... Do I need to nurture my bonds again?" Minato rested a hand on his chin.

"Fortunately, or unfortunately, that will not be necessary. However, your Personas may gain new powers more quickly than usual to make up for the lack of additional strength from nurtured bonds." Elizabeth explained.

"I see. So I just have to keep using them to unlock their full potential."

"Precisely." Elizabeth chuckled.

With all that over, Minato informed the Velvet Siblings about the shadows' ability to speak and be persuaded to become Personas.

"So the phenomenon we thought ceased to exist has appeared once again." Margaret pondered.

"What do you mean?"

"Long time ago, before you were first accepted as a guest, such phenomenon was an epidemic. Negotiation one of the ways the guests before you used to obtain new powers. It's wildly different compared to your methods." Margaret provided a small exposition. "We're pleased you're able to quickly familiarize yourself with it."

"Some part of it still feels...awkward, though."

"There's no need to be nervous. We're sure someone with such demeanor as yours wouldn't consider it a problem in the long run."

Minato shrugged. They were right, after all. Elizabeth probably told stories about him which may explained how they knew his character traits.

"Thanks for the info. I should be going." Minato got up from his chair and walked to the door with Elizabeth walking him. "Next time I might have more questions to ask..." Minato said as he stood in front of the door.

"I will be looking forward to answering them." Elizabeth gave Minato a quick peck on the lips then bowed. "Please come again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato's List of Personas as of the end of this chapter:  
> >Lv26 Orpheus  
> Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Endure, Maragion, Marakukaja, Fire Boost  
> Note: Level, stat, and skills are based on the Orpheus DLC for P5  
> >Lv2 Pixie  
> Skills: Zio, Dia  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Patra, Tarukaja, Resist Confuse  
> >Lv3 Mandrake  
> Skills: Pulinpa, Energy Drop  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Lunge, Sukunda, Skull Cracker  
> >Lv2 Jack-o-Lantern  
> Skills: Agi, Rakunda  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Sharp Student, Dazzler, Resist Sleep


	5. Shujin's Underlying Problem

Wednesday. April 13th, 2017.

"Volleyball rally?" Minato asked.

The two classmates who mistook Minato for the problem transfer student on Monday - they introduced themselves as Konoe and Tonoguchi, who preferred being called Tony - were talking to him at his desk as they get changed to their gym outfit.

"Yeah. It's a way for teachers and students to get along through playing volleyball."

"Just play along nicely, and don't piss off the teachers, especially Mr. Kamoshida. That guy sure has a mean spike for a volleyball coach."

Konoe and Tony proceeded to talk about the volleyball team while Minato took out his gym uniform and get changed.

"Dude, those guys in the volleyball team never had it easy with him coaching. They always come out looking like shit after practice."

"One of the second-years has been having it worst, though. Not once did I see him free of bruises since he joined... Damn, what's he gonna do to us commoners? I don't wanna die over a game of volleyball..."

"Relax, it's just for fun today. He just wants to show that the school has a good volleyball culture to back up our rep as a nationals regular." A classmate wearing Shujin's volleyball team outfit and had his head and arms bandaged came to them.

"But still, dude, what kind of volleyball training makes you look like a victim of assault?" Tony looked at the classmate.

"This is just because I was out of form during practice! I usually come out unscathed... And besides, he's got a strong will to win the nationals. It rubbed off on us."

"I'm sure he does. But you gotta look after yourself, man. Don't you think he's going overboard with at least one guy ending up in the sickbed after practice?"

"W-well if it's to win the nationals, we gotta train as hard as we can, dammit! Or else he'll force us to quit, and I ain't doin' that!"

"Ugh... There's no swaying you huh? Just...careful, man."

The volleyball team member left. Konoe and Tony shared a worried look at each other while Minato finished getting changed. The first of the matches was about to begin as the rest of Classroom 3-B finished getting changed.

"Hey, Yuki. You sure you wanna participate? I heard you just got out of hospital..." Konoe turned to Minato.

"I'll manage." Minato said.

"Don't hesitate to pull out if you're not feeling comfortable, dude." Tony grabbed Minato's shoulder as they walked out of the classroom.

"Personal space..." Minato murmured.

* * *

"Still sticks out… Hasn't changed a bit." Ryuji looked at Ann who was sitting on the other side of the gym. He then stretched himself. "Pretty boring, right?"

Akira chuckled. After getting his Persona yesterday, Ryuji felt himself getting closer to Akira. Releasing his rebellious self in the form of Captain Kidd felt good for him. It's like a lot of weight was lifted from his shoulders.

Meanwhile on the court a student named Mishima, Akira's classmate, just took a spike to the face courtesy of Mr. Kamoshida. Akira and Ryuji were sitting next to each other and were watching when it happened. Mr. Kamoshida ordered Mishima to be carried out to tend to his injury. As the rally continues, Ryuji brought Akira to have a chat outside near a rest area.

"That asshole's actin' like a king over here too… Get to know each other better, my ass. It's just a one-man show for him to stroke his ego. And how he acted like he was worried about Mishima? What an abusive d-bag…!" One thing that remained, or rather, felt stronger inside Ryuji was his disgust towards Kamoshida.

They wanted to expose Kamoshida's abuses, so Ryuji came up with the idea to ask around the school in hopes to dig any information. Back at the castle, Ryuji saw volleyball team members getting abused as part of the volleyball training inside the prison cells. He wanted to take pictures of them, but for some reason the camera wasn't working. Ryuji decided to try and remember their faces instead.

They started out by looking for one of the team members from Class 2-D, Akira's class. Conveniently the student was in the class, standing by the black board. He looked pretty banged up, with bandages wrapped on his head and a face badly bruised. Even after much persuasion from Ryuji, the team member didn't want to give out anything, as if he was defending Kamoshida. Failing to get information from Akira's classmate, they decided to split up, considering the rally was going to end soon so they could return to the gymnasium quickly. Akira went downstairs to ask a third-year while Ryuji went upstairs to ask a first-year.

On the way to asking the third-year, Akira overheard part of a conversation between two female students.

"I wonder if he's all right… I hope he's not letting it get to him too much." The female student with a ponytail, named Shiho said.

"That's just like you, Shiho. Always worrying about other people before yourself." The other female student with long twin ponytails, named Ann, complimented her. "Kinda like when you were there for me…"

Akira decided to move on, looking for the third-year Ryuji was talking about near Classroom 3-C. He quickly found the guy, who was also a volleyball team member. His right hand and left knee was wrapped in bandages and he had bruises all over his face topped off with bandages covering his right eye.

"Eh? Whaddya want? You got something to say?" The assertive volleyball player spotted Akira looking at him.

"You on the volleyball team? Akira asked.

"So what if I am?" The assertive volleyball player replied.

"Hey, I know who this guy is. He's that transfer student who's been hanging out with Sakamoto…" The volleyball player's friend recognized Akira.

Minato who was exiting his classroom overheard the conversation and decided to eavesdrop, putting his earphones on but without music blasting from them. Despite being able to integrate himself back into life, he still needed to find the wild card he was supposed to be helping. The sooner he found him, the better.

"Oh, I get it. You're trying to snoop on Mr. Kamoshida, right? Look, our volleyball team performs at a national level. Of course our practices are gonna be tough. Mr. Kamoshida's just dedicated to train us. Don't believe everything Sakamoto says." The assertive volleyball player warned Akira.

"You sure it's not abuse?" Akira asked again.

"D-don't talk like you know!" Just like Akira's classmate from earlier, this volleyball player seemed to be covering up for Kamoshida too.

"Hey, we should stop talking to him. What if he loses it and starts attacking us? I heard he even carries a knife around. Who knows what he's capable of." The volleyball player's friend dragged him away and left Akira.

Minato caught all of it. As he watched the frizzy-haired student leaving the corridor, he recalled Margaret's description of the wild card's background. Although it wasn't much of an information, he was starting to get the pieces he needed to put the puzzle together. However, he still needed more information to be able to confirm who the wild card was.

* * *

As Akira was waiting for Ryuji at the rest area, Ann came to him.

"Can I talk to you for a sec...?"

"What is it?"

"It'll be quick." Ann paused. "Anyway, what's with you? Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all... There's that weird rumor about you too."

"Whaddya want with him?" Ryuji arrived at the scene.

"Right back at you. You're not even in our class." Ann fired back at Ryuji.

"...We just happened to get to know each other."

"What're you planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?" Ann crossed his arms.

"Huh!?" Ryuji was surprised that Ann picked up quickly. "...I see. I getcha. You're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all."

"This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto!" Ann skirted Ryuji.

"If you found out what he's been doin' behind your back, you'd dump him right away."

"Behind my back...? What's that supposed to mean?" Ann was taken aback by Ryuji's statement.

Ryuji sighed. "You wouldn't get it."

"Anyway, people are already talking about you two. I don't know what you're trying to pull, but no one's gonna help you. I'm warning you, just in case. That's all." Ann met Ryuji's gaze with her stare, then left.

"Why's she gotta be so aggressive all the time...?"

"You know her?" Akira asked.

"We just went to the same middle school." Ryuji explains. "Anyways, that's not what we're here to talk about. Any luck on your end?"

"Nothing." Akira said. "Any luck asking the first-year?"

"Same here... I got a name though; Mishima, a second-year." Ryuji answered. "That's your classmate, right?"

"Yeah. The guy that's always covered in bruises."

"True... Let's go talk to him before he leaves then."

Akira nodded and returned to the gymnasium with Ryuji.

A few matches later, the rally ended, and students were allowed to go home. Before getting changed, Akira and Ryuji went to find Mishima in the former's classroom, only to find out he just left. They hurried to the school entrance and ran into Mishima walking out in his school uniform.

"Hey, got a second?"

"Sakamoto...? And Kurusu, too!?"

"C'mon, we just wanna chat." Ryuji quickly pressed the matter. "Kamoshida's been 'coaching' you, huh? You sure it's not just physical abuse?"

"Certainly not!" Mishima looked down.

"Don't be scared. What're you talkin' all polite for?" Ryuji tried to make Mishima relaxed, although his tone wasn't helping. Anyways... We saw him spike you today. Right in the face."

"That was just because I'm not good at the sport..." Just like others, Mishima seemed to be defending Kamoshida.

"...Still, that doesn't explain all the other bruises you've got." Ryuji looked at Mishima's sorry state.

"They're from practice...!"

"Is he forcin' you to keep quiet?"

"That's..."

Mishima looked like he was about to spill the beans before Kamoshida himself approached them.

"What's going on here?" Kamoshida looked at the three students. "Mishima, isn't it time to practice?"

"I-I'm not feeling well today..." Mishima didn't look like he was in a good shape to be exercising.

"What? Maybe you're better off quitting then. You're never going to improve that crappy form unless you show up to practice."

Mishima only gulped.

"Didn't you hear? He ain't feelin' well!" Ryuji came up to Kamoshida.

"Well, Mishima? Are you coming to practice or not?" Kamoshida ignored Ryuji.

"...I'll go." Mishima resigned.

Kamoshida stared down at Ryuji. "As for you, any more trouble and you'll be gone from this school for sure."

"Bastard..."

"Same goes for you." Kamoshida looked at Akira. "Didn't the principal tell you to keep in line?"

Akira decided to lighten up the mood and went out of topic. "You have an amazing spike."

"Hmph. Just don't get in the way of my practice. All these rumors are making the students anxious, after all."

"That's your own goddamn fault." Ryuji glared at Kamoshida.

"This won't get us anywhere." Kamoshida decided to leave. "Let's go, Mishima."

Before Kamoshida actually left, he had some lines to say.

"Shujin Academy is a place where those with aspirations come to learn. Unworthy students like yourselves don't have any right to be here."

"Get with the program!" Kamoshida glanced at Mishima.

"Yes, sir."

Akira and Ryuji watched Kamoshida leave.

"That asshole... He's gonna pay for this!"

"There's no point..."

"Huh!?"

"Proving that he's physically abusing us...is meaningless. Everybody knows... The principal, our parents... They all know, and they all keep quiet about it."

"This has gotta be a joke..."

Mishima shrugged Akira and Ryuji off, saying that they didn't understand the bigger picture. After telling them that nothing was going to help, Mishima ran off. Akira and Ryuji walked back to the second floor to get changed.

Thursday. April 14th, 2017.

"Morning!" Tony said out loud as he came up to Konoe and Minato. "Dude, you gotta come with me for a minute. I got something important to tell you guys."

"Morning..." Minato and Konoe answered Tony in unison. "What's with the rush, Tony?" Konoe looked at Tony.

"Just... Come with me!"

Minato and Konoe were forced to follow Tony out of the classroom as he ran off.

...

"So... Why are we listening to this while you're taking a dump!?" Konoe facepalmed in front of the bathroom stall. Minato leaned against a wall as he's listening.

"Sorry, nature calls." Tony replied. "Anyway, I heard something insane yesterday. It's about Mr. Kamoshida."

"What about him?"

"You know that second-year who's always full of bruises? He opened up about Mr. Kamoshida's secrets."

"What do you mean 'secrets'?"

Tony told Minato and Konoe that he overheard the confrontation between Akira, Ryuji, Mishima, and Mr. Kamoshida after school yesterday.

"Wait... You're joking, right?"

"Dude, why would I joke around about this? If they're true, then that explains why the volleyball team members always look pretty banged up after practice, including some of our guys."

"And why is this our problem again?"

"They're physically abused, dammit! Training hard to win the nationals is a good thing, but that's crossing the line. Don't you feel sorry when you saw our guys looking like assault victims yesterday?"

"So what are we gonna do? We obviously can't risk getting expelled and just confront Mr. Kamoshida. We might end up like Sakamoto-kun, too!"

"I got an idea. I'll tell you guys at lunchtime."

Tony got out of the bathroom stall and washed his hands while Minato and Konoe waited outside. As they walked back to the classroom, the first bell rang.

After the morning classes, Minato felt like taking a nap on his desk while drowning himself in music. A few minutes into trying to get the nap, it was ruined when Konoe suddenly grabbed him from the back of his collar and dragged him out of the classroom.

"Konoe-kun, why are you dragging him away like that?" Makoto glared at Konoe.

"It's urgent, Prosecutor's lil' sis-san. Later..." Konoe replied.

"Personal space...!" Minato murmured again as he got dragged away.

Konoe dragged Minato to where Tony was standing near the vending machines. Konoe and Tony did the talking while Minato was in tow.

"So what is it? We're hungry and we don't have much time."

"I wanna talk to someone."

"And who it might be?"

"That one newspaper club member who's always fidgeting around in the second floor."

"Wait, her?" Konoe was puzzled. He wasn't sure if she wanted to help at all. "You really are a challenger, aren't you?"

"J-Just follow me! It'll be quick." Tony shrugged Konoe off.

They went up the stairs to find the newspaper club member standing by the locker across one of the classrooms, looking fidgety as usual.

"Hey, you want some hot news material?" Tony asked the newspaper club member.

"What do you mean, uh, Tonoguchi-senpai?" She seemed to know Tony.

"We want you to snoop around the gymnasium when the volleyball team are practicing."

"The volleyball team...? Is it about why they always look bad after practice? I-It's dangerous, if someone finds out I might get expelled!"

"Oh, so you've also been paying attention..."

"Don't worry, you don't have to put it in the next paper. Just give what you find to us."

"What do you mean?"

"It's clear enough. Sneak into the volleyball practice, take some pictures, and give them to us. We'll take it from there."

"I-I don't know if the club president will agree to this..."

"We'll talk to her. She's in our class, after all."

"O-okay, I'll do it. But I'm scared to go alone..."

"I'll go, I need to see it with my own eyes, too." Tony stepped up.

"You REALLY are a challenger, aren't you!?" Konoe spoke to Tony.

"I'll be fine..." Tony replied. "I'll let you know when the volleyball team's on practice. Thanks beforehand."

"Just don't snitch if you get caught, 'cause this is entirely your idea!"

They left the newspaper club member to walk to the cafeteria. Konoe still couldn't fathom why Tony would go through such lengths and risk himself getting expelled and possibly beaten up by Mr. Kamoshida. Regardless, they knew it's a high risk, high return plan.

* * *

"Dammit. What the hell..." Ryuji murmured as he grabbed a can of soda from the vending machine.

"What happened?" Akira showed up.

"Is that what it looks like? All of 'em kept sayin' the same shit Mishima was talkin' about...!" Ryuji referred to his failed attempts at making people open up about Kamoshida's abuses. "Kamoshida had to have told 'em something! At this rate...it looks like we'll have to go to him directly..."

"There's no point, Ryuji. We can't just go to him without proof."

"I know..." Ryuji resigned. "But seriously, isn't there something we can do? No way I'm gonna give in like this! Can you think of anything?"

"Without proof, the police won't believe us. Plus, they're more likely to detain us than to reason with us..." Akira thought. "How about a sneak attack?"

"That'd be fine if we could do it without gettin' caught, but...if we did, we'd be seriously done for. You got any other ideas...?"

"We could get back to the castle..."

"Oh, yeah, there's that... But... Is there a meaning to-"

Suddenly a rather familiar voice cut in from somewhere.

"I finally found you..."

A black cat with yellow necklace and white tail showed up.

"...You say something?" Ryuji looked at the cat.

The cat jumped onto the table. "Don't think you can get away with not paying me back for helping you."

"That voice... Is that you, Morgana!?"

"How dare you, up and leaving me the other day!" The cat shook its head.

"The cat's talkin'!?"

"I am NOT a cat! This is just what happened when I came to this world!" Morgana digressed. "It was a lot of trouble finding you two."

"Don't try to deny it, dammit! You ARE a cat!" Ryuji examined Morgana's cat form. "By the way, you really came to our world!? Does that mean you've got a phone!?"

"You don't need one when you're at my level. I did get pretty lost making my escape though..."

"That aside, why can you talk!? You're a cat!"

"How should I know!?"

"You hearin' this too...?" Ryuji turned to Akira.

"Loud and clear, meow." Akira replied.

"This is no time to be jokin' around!" Ryuji was pissed at being joked.

"You guys are having a rough time of this, hm? I heard you mention something about witnesses."

"Oh, shuddup."

"You know, I could tell you a thing or two about what to do with Kamoshida. You were pretty close just a moment ago."

"God, that condescendin' attitude! This thing's gotta be Morgana!"

"You were still doubting me!?"

"Ack...! Quiet down!" Ryuji would be taken to a mental institution if someone else other than Akira found him talking to a cat.

Meanwhile, a teacher and a student were looking for Morgana. Ryuji grabbed Morgana by his necklace and stuffed it inside Akira's bag before leaving to avoid suspicion. When they arrived at the rooftop, Akira took Morgana out of his bag. Morgana and Ryuji went into a little quarrel before continuing their discussion about Kamoshida.

"You said, you know how we can do something about Kamoshida, right?"

"It has to do with something Akira was talking about earlier. You'll need to attack his castle."

"So we gotta get back in there?"

"Yep. That castle is how Kamoshida views this school. He doesn't realize what happens in there, but it's deeply connected to the depths of his heart. Thus, if the castle disappears, it would naturally affect the real Kamoshida."

"Okay, what would happen?"

"A Palace is a manifestation of a person's distorted desires. So, if that castle is no more..."

"His desires would go too."

"Precisely! You sure pick up things fast!"

"For real!? He's gonna turn good?" Ryuji wasn't feeling sure about the prospect. "But...is that really gettin' back at him?"

"Well, I'll put it this way... He will turn good, but his crimes won't be undone. He will no longer be able to bear it anymore and he'll confess them himself!"

"For real!?"

"With his Palace gone, so would his memories about what we did there... As if nothing happened."

"That's amazing! You are one incredible cat!"

"True, except the cat part!" Morgana was still denying it.

Ryuji moved on to the next part.

"So? How do we get rid of the Palace?"

"By stealing the treasure held within. I'll tell you more once you agree to go ahead with this. It's my most valuable secret plan, after all..."

"Alright, alright. We still have our end of the deal to fulfill..."

"There's no other way... No one will speak up."

Before they conclude things, Morgana told them about the implications that might happen during the process. Morgana explained in short, that the main objective was to steal the treasure without killing the ruler of the Palace. Killing the ruler would cause the real life version of the ruler to go on a mental shutdown, and would eventually die. Ryuji was still not convinced, especially since they had to do it in secret. He thought they'd be no better than Kamoshida that way. Morgana decided to give them time to think, and left. Ryuji still thought there was another way to do it.

On his way home, Akira overheard Ann talking to someone on the phone. From her tone, she sounded angry at whoever was on the other end of the line. As she went on to lash on the phone, the call was suddenly hung up. She curled down as she thought about something.

"Shiho's... starting position..."

Akira decided to approach her, much to her surprise. He told her that he didn't listen on purpose. She wanted to direct her anger at him but instead stopped and apologized. As she wiped her teary eyes, she asked him about how much of the conversation he heard, to which he answered about hearing something regarding her friend.

After wiping off her tears, Ann ran off to the station. Akira decided to pursue her, hoping he could get answers. He eventually found her standing near a pillar in the underground walkway of the station. She tried to shrug him off again while holding her tears. Realizing she couldn't hold it anymore, he decided she could use a shoulder to cry on. This time she didn't resist and followed him to a diner where they could sit down and talk.

"I don't have anything to talk about about you. It was just an argument..."

"...With Kamoshida?"

Based on Ann's stressed reaction, Akira knew he was right on with his deduction. Ann finally gave up and started explaining the situation as she cried.

"You've heard the rumors...haven't you? About Mr. Kamoshida... Everyone says we're getting it on. But...that's so not true...! That was him on the other line. I avoided giving him my number...for the longest time... He told me to go to his place after this... You know what it means. If I turn him down, he said he'd take my friend off as a regular on the team... I've been telling myself this is all for Shiho's sake... I can't take it anymore. I've head enough of this...I hate him! But still...Shiho's my best friend. She's all I have left at that sorry excuse of a school! Tell me... What should I do?"

Akira couldn't think of anything as a reply, grabbing onto his knees tightly.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. It's not your problem." Ann looked down. "What am I saying? I've barely even talked to you before..."

"Maybe that's why you're so distressed about it?" Akira finally spoke.

"...You might be right." Ann wiped her tears while looking at Akira. "You're so weird. Usually everyone just ignores me. Are you really a bad person as the rumor says...? You just don't seem like it..."

"I'm bad to the bone." Akira deadpanned.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Ann chuckled, she had lighten up. "I kinda had a feeling they were all just exaggerations. You seemed lonely-almost like you didn't belong anywhere... We're the same in that regard. Maybe that's why it was so easy to talk to you."

"Is there really no way for me to help Shiho...? I wish he'd just change his mind... Like, forget about me, and everything... As if something like that would ever happen."

"It could happen..." Akira nodded.

"I wasn't asking for a serious response. But I do feel a bit better now..." Ann smiled. "I'm gonna head home. Don't tell anyone what I told you, OK? I'll try and think of a way to persuade Kamoshida. Thanks..."

Ann left. Akira left shortly after finishing his drink.

Friday. April 15th, 2017.

_If you wanna battle, then I'll take it to the street_

_Where there's no rules_

_Take off the gloves ref, please step down_

_Gotta prove my skills so get down..._

It's a cloudy Friday morning in Tokyo. The teacher for Classroom 3-B wasn't present so the period which was supposed to be Chemistry had been changed to self-study. Ms. Chouno told the class to not cause too much noise as she was teaching in the next room.

Among all the students inside 3-B, there was Minato, relaxing in his desk while drowning himself in music. And there was Makoto, who decided to open her Chemistry textbook and study.

It was looking very peaceful inside the classroom as they kept their voice down just like what Ms. Chouno had instructed. Then they heard screams which seem to come from upstairs. Everyone wondered where the scream came from, until two certain peas in a pod came to the classroom with a breaking news.

"Guys, you gotta come to the courtyard now!" Konoe cried.

"What is it, Konoe-kun?" Makoto asked.

"Someone..." Tony was panting. "Someone just jumped from the roof!"

Everyone in the class started talking to each other as they cleared out the classroom. Students from other classrooms were doing the same thing.

"Someone jumped? Even though the roof's fenced off?"

"Who is it?"

"Never mind that, let's hope he or she's not dead! It's a pretty huge drop."

"Should I call the ambulance?"

"I already did."

"That's assertive of you, Tony..."

* * *

"No... Why...? Shiho!" Ann covered her mouth as she shrieked over the sight of her best friend jumping from the building. She immediately ran downstairs to check if Shiho was okay.

"H-Hey! What's goin' on? We should head to the courtyard too!" Ryuji was feeling restless. Akira nodded and the two of them raced down the stairs.

They couldn't get through the crowd in front of the door leading directly to the courtyard. Ryuji decided to go through the Practice Building.

"Hey! Lemme through!"

"What the hell, man?"

"Outta the way, please!"

Akira and Ryuji came to the sorry sight of Shiho lying on a stretcher. Fortunately for everyone, Shiho was alive. She had regained consciousness after jumping. Ann raced through the crowd and approached her best friend to check on her.

"What the hell is wrong with these people?" Ryuji was downright irritated with the sight of everyone pulling out their phones.

"We need someone to go with her... Are there any teachers around?" One of the paramedics asked.

"I-I'm not in charge of her class though..." One of the panicked teachers answered.

"We should leave this to Principal Kobayakawa." Another teacher followed up.

"I'll go!" Ann stepped up.

"Please hurry." The paramedic allowed Ann to tend to Shiho.

"Shiho... Why?" Ann cried at the sight of her best friend lying on the stretcher.

"Ann?" Shiho looked at Ann. "I'm sorry... I... I can't take this... anymore..."

Those were Shiho's final words before the paramedic officers took him into the ambulance. Ann followed and got into the ambulance, trying to comfort Shiho as they're taken to the hospital.

* * *

"Hey, all of this is on you, right?"

"Yeah, dude. I've got some spare money to burn."

Minato was dragged into yet another discussion with Konoe and Tony, this time in a family restaurant after school. He was feeling hungry, so he decided to go along. After all, every bit of information would be useful to him.

"What's this about?" He picked up a french fries as he paid attention to the discussion.

"Oh, you're actually talking for once!" Tony took a bite at his burger. Minato's two new friends noticed his habit of not talking much in conversations. "I asked around the school after the incident this morning."

"What did you find?" Konoe took a sip at his drink.

Tony started his exposition.

"Well, first off, the girl that jumped was Suzui, a second-year. She's also a member of the volleyball team. She allegedly received some 'special training' from Mr. Kamoshida the day before."

"You mean getting beaten to hell?" Konoe cut in.

"I don't know for sure. But from the look of those I asked, it seems to be the case."

"Damn, to think Mr. Kamoshida would do such a thing... Is she okay, by the way?"

"She's...not sure. She's obviously injured, but her state of consciousness is unknown."

"Let's just hope she's really not dead for now... Is that all?"

"No, there's more. Apparently Mr. Kamoshida and another second-year named Takamaki have been seeing each other. This Takamaki, is Suzui's best friend."

"Takamaki, as in the really drop dead gorgeous Takamaki-kun? So do you think Suzui-kun's attempted suicide has anything to do with her?"

Minato narrowed his eyes while chewing at his burger.

"Most likely. Maybe Takamaki pissed Mr. Kamoshida off, and he laid out his frustration at Suzui."

"Damn, man... This is all messed up! Can't someone do something about this? Plus, all of this is just too coincidentally convenient..."

"I also saw Sakamoto, Mishima, the guy who's always full of bruises, and the second-year transfer student, named Kurusu, coming out of the PE Faculty Office right after the incident... My guess is they confronted Mr. Kamoshida. But judging from the lack of injuries they sustained, it ended without any pummeling."

"God... Were they insane...? Coming up to him just like that..."

Minato finally spoke up, feeling the need to ask the question that mattered to him. "How about the second-year transfer student?"

"Oh, Kurusu? Rumor has it that he's got a criminal record, and is prone to physically attacking people when he snapped. Some says that he carries a knife around, too. That's why no one dares trying to get close to him, except Sakamoto."

"Sakamoto-kun is close to that problem transfer student? Talk about similar ones attracting each other."

"Hey, Sakamoto was an honor student too, until his fallout with Mr. Kamoshida last year. He's not all bad, maybe there was something between him and Mr. Kamoshida before. He's not done any major offense other than dying his hair blond, but that's considered trivial. Plus, Kurusu just doesn't look like the kinda guy who attacks people out of nowhere."

"So you're saying the rumors are greatly exaggerated?"

"Possibly..."

Tony's phone rang, he checked to see what just got in.

"...Dude, I just got a new info."

"What is it?"

"It's not confirmed yet, but Mr. Kamoshida is planning to get Sakamoto, Mishima, and Kurusu expelled for confronting him in the PE Faculty Office."

"My God... What did they do...?"

Minato stopped eating, his eyes narrowed, and focused intently at Tony.

"Apparently the three of them threatened Mr. Kamoshida, with Sakamoto almost punching him."

"Damn, it just got worse..."

Minato couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew it was still early, but if the clues he got so far lead to confirming Kurusu as the wild card, he's gonna have to act soon.

"So Tony, is your plan still a go?" Konoe intently looked at Tony. If he wasn't worried about his best friend possibly getting expelled before, he definitely was at that moment.

"Of course! That info doesn't change anything. I'm not doing this to get those second-years out of jail, I'm doing this for the sake of our guys!"

"...Then count me in." Konoe steeled himself.

"Dude, you don't have to-"

"No, I'm doing it! I'm not gonna just sit back and let you do all the work. Besides... We ride together, we die together."

"Huh." Tony chuckled. "It's been a long time since you last said that, dude."

Konoe turned to Minato. "Yuki... You might not understand it, but I won't let Tony do this alone after all. Whether you wanna come with us or not, it's up to you. You just got back to school, think twice before you decide to squander your new school life by getting yourself in trouble. We'll be fine... We've dealt with this kind of shit before."

"Don't use violence." Minato replied.

"Yeah...I know. Still, man, hearing all that makes me wanna punch Mr. Kamoshida too."

"Dude, Yuki's right. We can't resort to violence. Just stick to the plan..." Tony looked at Minato. "As Konoe said, you don't have to come. Let us handle this. If we got you in trouble, Niijima will kill us."

"Understood..." Minato nodded.

As they finished their discussion, they had also finished eating. They parted ways as soon as they got out of the restaurant.


	6. April 15th and 16th

Friday. April 15th, 2017.

"What's this all about!? Seriously, I'm gonna call the cops!"

Ann Takamaki was captured by a party of patrolling guards when she managed to get back into Kamoshida's castle by herself. She was previously shoved out by Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana after she caught them in the act just as they're about to get started on infiltrating the castle. What was supposed to be an infiltration had turned into a rescue mission as soon as Morgana told Akira and Ryuji about Ann's situation.

Akira, a.k.a. Joker; Ryuji a.k.a. Skull; and Morgana a.k.a. Mona, doubled back to the hallway they just went through and found a special path leading to where Ann was held up. Outside the door they could hear Ann's sound.

"So, this is the intruder."

Ann looked to her far left to see someone she recognized approaching.

"Kamoshida!?"

Then another figure who looked similar to her wearing an obscene outfit approached Shadow Kamoshida. "Who's that?"

"More importantly, what is this place!? Why's the school turned into something like this!?"

"I can't believe you mistook my Ann for someone like her." Said Shadow Kamoshida. He then laughed. "Are you afraid?"

Ann looked at the figure resembling her. "What is that outfit? Have you lost your mind?"

Shadow Kamoshida smirked and ignored her. "I do as I please here. After all, this is my castle… The world of my desires."

"Wait, is this some red-light district!?"

"What a lively slave…"

"This isn't funny! Enough of the bullshit, Kamoshida!"

"The girl's decided to tell me off. What do you think of that?" Shadow Kamoshida looked at the girl beside her.

"Talking back is, like, totally unforgivable." The figure resembling Ann spoke in such a lustful tone."

"In that case…she should be executed."

A guard in a golden armor approached Ann.

"Now then, how should I play with you…? Shall I tear you into little pieces?"

"This is effed up…" Said Ryuji as they barged in, greeted by of topless girls on the floor. "Is that what he thinks of the girls on the volleyball team?"

Right in that room they found Ann along with the fake Ann they encountered before. They approached her, but Shadow Kamoshida warned them to not get any closer or the real Ann would be killed right there and then. They were forced to watch as Ann contemplated on what got her in her current situation, from Shiho attempting suicide to her being tied up. As Kamoshida talked ill of her, Ann had nothing left in her mind but to resign to her fate, until Joker told her to not give in. Ann paused, before she finally realized that she's been toyed, and that she would never let herself be played anymore.

Ann's realization and resolve gave birth to the rebellious surge of power inside her. It helped free herself from the contraption as a red mask attached itself to her face. She violently ripped it off, revealing her Persona, a predominantly red-clad whip-wielding female figure holding a poor man and standing on another, the femme fatale, Carmen. Her outfit also changed to a red catsuit which revealed part of her chest and had a tail. She knocked one of the guards' sword away before grabbing it and slashed the fake Ann into nothingness. Shadow Kamoshida backed off, cowering in fear as guards stood to protect him.

"You know what? I'm not some cheap girl you can toy with...you scumbag."

"Bitch...!"

"You stole everything from Shiho... You destroyed her... Now it's your turn! I will rob you of everything...!"

"How dare you! Enough of your insolence!"

"No, I've had enough of you. No one's gonna stop me now! Let's go, Carmen! GIVE 'EM HELL!"

"Guys, go!"

The guards merge into one, forming a Belphegor. Coincidentally, the Belphegor was weak to Fire, which was Ann's forté.

"Carmen, Agi!"

Belphegor was hit with a fireball which knocked it down instantly. With an opening created, the four of them went in and simultaneously attacked it. They managed to deal ample amount of damage but the Belphegor was still standing - or sitting.

"Go, Jack-o-Lantern! Agi! Go down...!"

Akira was next. As he finally acquired Jack-o-Lantern he finally had covered the four basic elements; Fire, Ice, Electricity, and Wind. He had Curse in Arsene but since Belphegor was weak to fire, he switched to Jack-o-Lantern.

The Fire spell produced the same outcome as the previous one, and they all went in for another all-out attack which managed to finish off the Belphegor.

Seeing his guards decimated just like that, Shadow Kamoshida could do nothing but ran away. Ann wanted to chase him but she was too tired to even stand up. Considering that Shadow Kamoshida might have alarmed other guards, the party had no choice but to flee for the time being and get Ann out of there so she could collect herself. They decided to not resume infiltration that day as it was getting late.

* * *

Minato walked back to his apartment building after the landlord texted him about someone waiting in front of his room. The landlord greeted him as he half-hastily went up the stairs to his room. Upon arriving, he could see the figure standing in front of his apartment door, a man wearing predominantly blue formal clothing and a hat with silver hair.

"Good evening." The man greeted and did a mock bow.

"Evening, Theo. Been waiting long?" Minato greeted him back as he slotted in his apartment key.

"Not particularly long..." Theo smiled. "I would like to forward a package to you."

"A package?" Minato looked down to see Theo carrying a box inside a bag as he opened the door. "Please, come on in."

Theo followed Minato into his apartment. "Pardon the intrusion..."

Theo took his shoes off in the entrance before walking in and looking around. The apartment wasn't much. In fact, it's a simple one person apartment with only one bedroom which also functioned as a living space. He put the bag on the table and sat down on the mat as Minato walked to the fridge to get him something to drink.

"I've got tea, root beer, and orange juice here... Which one do you want?"

"Root...beer? An alcoholic beverage made out of a plant's part of attachment to the ground?"

Minato chuckled. He forgot Theo was also a Velvet Room attendant who, like Elizabeth and Margaret, was oblivious to the ways of the outside world. "It's not alcoholic, but it's originally made from roots. Although I don't think they actually use roots for commercial production..." Minato grabbed a can of root beer and poured it into a glass before pouring tea into his. He figured Theo wanted to try the root beer judging from his curiosity.

"I see..."

Minato put down the drinks and sat down on the other side of the table. "So what's in the bag?"

"It's a package, as I said earlier... My sisters thought the contents inside would be helpful for your explorations." Theo slid the bag across the table.

"Thanks, that's very kind of them."

As Minato took a look at the package, Theo took a sip at his drink. Theo thought of the taste before taking another sip. Theo put down the glass and showed a really happy face, like a child opening his present.

"I didn't think a drink named after a part of plants can taste this good...! Its sweet, deep flavor makes one filled with absolute ecstasy..."

"I'm glad you like it..." Minato smiled and scratched his cheek. That way of describing things could indeed only come from Velvet Room attendants. He first thought it's just Elizabeth's tic.

"I wish to examine the contents of this 'root beer' further..."

To Minato, that sounded like Theo wanted more of the root beer. So he went into one of the kitchen cabinets, grabbed a six-pack of root beer, and put it on the table.

"There, you can have them."

"As part of the customs, I believe I can politely refuse this generous gift from you..."

"Well, I wanna give them to you. Customarily, you have to politely accept it..."

"Yes, I do believe that is part of the customs... Many thanks."

"No problem. I can always get more at the store..." Minato took out the boxed package from the bag and put the six-pack in its place.

As they drank along, Theo felt the need to ask something regarding Minato's relationship with his sister.

"What do you see in Elizabeth that piqued your interest?"

Minato almost choked himself hearing that question out of the blue. He composed himself and put his glass down before thinking about what made him develop romantic feelings towards Elizabeth. He knew that only saying she's attractive wouldn't cut it.

"She's more than meets the eye. Behind her calm demeanor there's someone who's always so friendly, cheery, humorous, excited, and fun-loving. She was the anchor when my journey was at its toughest. When my friends were at their worst behavior, she helped me keep my moral compass straight. She injected positivity despite her sometimes...awkward behavior when we're together."

"I see... I would like to apologize for her strange acts back then. It was a way for her to learn the world as you are her only link. I believe that her excursions and requests weren't without any purpose..."

"Um...no, it's not much of a problem for me. Her strangeness is part of why I'm attracted to her."

"Is that so? I understand..."

Theo told Minato a bit about the time when Elizabeth decided to resign from her position as a Velvet Room attendant.

"We fellow Velvet Room residents didn't think one of our own would ever decide to pursue a rather unheard of, and very tall, purpose before. Even though we are denizens, governors of power, we are aware that exerting one's life essence means death to a human." Theo referenced Minato's decision to sacrifice himself as The Great Seal. "Margaret tried to reason with her so that she would return to her duties, but she found herself doubting her own existence instead. She decided to let her be stating that there's a possibility for her to be a guest of the Velvet Room one day..."

"You didn't mind her actions following my...passing?"

"I couldn't object her... Not because she is my older sister, but because I understand that she would take responsibility of her own actions..."

"Love can push people to do illogical things, after all..." Minato leaned forward, holding his chin on his hand and looked at Theo.

"...Is something the matter?"

"Nothing." Minato leaned back. "It's just...something tells me you're quite vulnerable to your sisters' antics." He said playfully, although with a deadpan tone and face.

Theo didn't know Minato was able to deduce that just by looking at him. "D-Does it look that obvious to you?"

"You're the one they sent here, after all. It's fine... Anyways,I'd like to thank you for helping me be free of the Seal and looking after it. I'm really happy to be alive again, but I know I have a purpose here. I haven't thanked your sisters for this opportunity too..." Minato realized he hadn't yet thanked the three Velvet Siblings for making him alive again.

"Your gratitude is much appreciated..." Theo got up, concluding his visit, carrying the six-pack Minato gave him. "I'd hate taking more of your time so I should be going now..."

Minato walked Theo to the door. "Tell your sisters I said thanks for the package...and that I'll be visiting soon on my own."

"I will gladly pass the message." Theo walked out of the apartment.

"Oh, yeah..." Minato spoke again. Stopping Theo from walking away. "How do I get into the Velvet Room? I don't see a door..."

"The key exists for that particular reason..." Theo answered, then began walking away from the apartment. "Please excuse me."

It sounded cryptic at first but then it hit him that he's given his old Velvet Key before stepping back into the outside world. He took out the key from the duffel bag and put it on the night stand before cleaning up the table, took a bath, and turned in for the night.

Saturday, April 16th, 2017.

_I never felt like, so misreable..._

_I never felt like thinking this will last forever..._

Minato was walking to the station after a rather boring day at school. He wasn't doing much other than answering a question in class, which gained his classmates' attention. As he stopped by the station entrance, he checked his bag to make sure he brought most, if not all the things he got from the package Theo gave to him last night, plus his Evoker and Velvet Key. He had planned to explore Mementos again that day.

The package itself contained recovery items and a box containing a 1/64 scale toy bike normally found in the toys section of a department store along with a remote key. The key and the toy bike were what made Minato curious, as he didn't know what to make of them. Other than that, the recovery items were of much help since he hadn't found a place which sold the kind of recovery items he needed. He knew there was a clinic in the neighborhood of his apartment, but he hadn't given it a look.

After the world around him had transformed courtesy of the app, he got down to the starting point in the platform. As he warmed up, he felt the alteration in his outfit again as he felt a sheathed sword and a bow complete with arrows attached themselves to his back. The empty holster was also back, and Minato put his Evoker in it.

He opened the container of the toy bike and the key and took them out, along with a piece of paper which contained the instruction manual.

"Press the button on the key and enjoy the ride!"

Minato did as the very short instruction manual said as he got down to the tracks. He put the model bike down and pushed the button on the key. The model bike suddenly transformed to a full-size bike. He was surprised but at the same time he realized why he was given the transforming model bike. The thoughts of where and how the Velvet Siblings got the item lingered in his mind as he checked the bike, but he thought it was best not to pry. The bike had the structure of a 1990s midsize dirt bike with an upright riding position, long suspension travel, and ample ground clearance. Despite its obvious dirt bike look, it had a set of road legal tires, making it what they would call a "dual-sport" bike.

Feeling satisfied with the bike, he got on and fired it up. He revved up the engine and got a feel of the bike. The bike's upright riding position felt different but at the same time more comfortable for him. He turned the lights on and took it for a spin as he started exploring, hoping he still got the hang of it like how he used to with another kind of bike. The head unit of the bike flashed as he turned the lights on, showing letters; "Qimranut: Area 1". Then it changed into an image which showed where his current position was and a map he needed to fill out.

He immediately noticed something different from his last exploration; the change in layout. He recalled arriving at an intersection when he was on foot before being chased away by The Reaper. What was an intersection before had changed into a fork in the road. He decided to take a right, hoping he would find Shadows to fight. To his convenience, that was exactly what happened as he spotted a Shadow in the distance after making the right turn. He stopped on his tracks at a safe distance, took out his bow and fired dead on at the Shadow.

It turned into a Mandrake and a Jack-o-Lantern. He already had both, so he jumped from his bike and easily defeated the Mandrake with one slash of his sword. He instinctively turned to the Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniac and shot it square in the head, also knocking it dead

He got back on the bike and resumed exploring. He continued on the path he took earlier to find it shut by a large, chained door. He tried moving the door by himself but it won't budge an inch. He knew he had to get the door open and crashing the bike into it was out of the question. He recalled the time when he had to fight two Arcana Shadows in a love hotel which left it sustaining a lot of damage caused by the fights. From his recollection, the one idea he had was forcing it open using a Persona since apparently they could interact with the environment. He summoned Orpheus and finally managed to bust the door open with a bash of its lyre. The opened door revealed more areas to explore for Minato.

As he marched on, a stray thought of whether a train might run him over crossed his mind. Despite it being a series of train tracks, he hadn't seen one train at all. The tunnels might leave enough gap for him to squeeze through should a train come his way, but so far he hadn't encountered any. Much to his relief, he also hadn't encountered The Reaper. Even though he had experience in fighting it, he realistically thought it would be impossible to defeat with the Personas he currently had.

There really wasn't much to the rest of the floor. The Shadows were pretty much all the same, and they all went down all the same. Nevertheless, he used the opportunity to level up the Personas he already had. Although, leveling up Orpheus was going to take some time since it's already far stronger than the other three. All in all, he was glad that he hadn't lost it when it comes to fighting

The part about being able to level them up a lot faster than usual held true. But then again after some thought it only made sense because he's doing it all alone.

He finally arrived at the starting point after going back and forth in the complex. He managed to completely fill out the map even though he knew it's going to reset on his next exploration. He got off the bike and took out the key which shrunk the bike back to its 1/64 scale size. He finally walked and up the station back to the real world as a sign that he's finished exploring. He put the now model bike into its container along with the key to it. This time he didn't feel as tired as he was riding a vehicle instead of traversing on foot. Even so, he felt hungry so he went to grab dinner as it's already getting dark out.

After grabbing dinner, there was one more stop he had to make. Except he couldn't find it. That's when he decided to take out his Velvet Key just as he was waiting for the subway. At first, it looked like the key wouldn't do anything. He examined the key and found out the top part of the key had been modified into a button. He pressed it, and suddenly the key floated and pointed at a direction. He grabbed the key to avoid anyone getting suspicious while maintaining the key's sense of direction and began walking accordingly.

The key's direction led him out of the station completely and into Shibuya's Central Street. He began predicting the door might be located in one of the Central Street's many alleys. It eventually took him into one all the way next to the Cinema, where the key suddenly pointed towards it. He walked into the alley and let the key float around since there were no bystanders, and the key suddenly performed a sharp change of direction to the left. That made Minato look to the left and yet he found himself staring at an ordinary wall.

He grabbed the key, thinking something might be wrong with it, but then it pulled his hand towards the wall and revealed a blue door just as the key was only inches away from the wall. The door bore an insignia he once saw on the front cover of his old compendium, confirming it's indeed the door to his Velvet Room. He slotted the key in, and the door unlocked. He was greeted with the usual sight of the Velvet Siblings sitting in their respective sides of the round table.

The Velvet Room itself had been decorated while Minato was out in the world. A door was placed in each corners of the room. A bar complete with chairs occupied the empty space behind Margaret. There was also a TV on the top shelf of the bar. From the look of it, Theo pretty much embraced his new role as an equipment maker. A work bench, an anvil, a boatload of materials, tools, and a forge could be seen behind him. There's even a nice brown apron hung on the wall alongside what looked like a strawberry-shaped one.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room..."

"You have masterfully located the door, and come by your own accord, as you promised."

"We'd also like to express gratitude for your generous gift."

"But those were supposed to be all mine..."

The three Velvet Siblings greeted Minato who while discussing about the six-pack of root beer he gave to Theo. From the look on his face it looked like he fell victim to his sisters again and was forced to surrender most if not all of the root beer he was given.

"What can we do for you?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'd like to register these Personas and fuse some of them away."

Minato registered all four of his Personas. Then he moved on to fusions. One Persona he would decide to hold onto for the time being would be Orpheus, his initial Persona. Despite being his initial Persona it had a stronger skill set and a new resistance while still carrying the same two weaknesses it used to have. Plus he wanted to see what skills Orpheus was about to unlock next.

Having only three sacrificeable Personas, it looked like he had to pay up in the sense that he was going to have to re-summon the three of them from the Compendium multiple times to be able to create as many as he could. He much preferred doing it organically by fusing up what he could get. But for the moment he'd rather not go back and forth between Mementos and the Velvet Room just to hunt for fodders.

First, he was looking to fuse away Jack-o-Lantern as it had three weaknesses; to ranged weapons, Ice, and Wind. He looked at the list and chose Mandrake as the second material to create Bicorn.

"Please choose the skill you wish to inherit. You may inherit up to four skills to the newly created Persona." A screen appeared above Elizabeth, showing the skills of both fusion materials and the resulting Persona.

"I can choose what I want to inherit instead of relying on the shuffle? And I can inherit that many?" He looked at the screen.

"To answer your questions, the former was first implemented for Margaret's guest. It has become a staple since then. On the other hand, it is the first time we are able to implement the latter. Our younger sister is the first of us to master it." Elizabeth explained.

Minato recalled correctly that he had to repeatedly input the same materials to get all the skills he wanted to pass down to the T shuffled in to get the best build out of his Personas, especially with the more complicated fusions. The luxury to pass down whatever he liked was a welcome addition which put him at ease.

Although he could inherit up to four skills, he chose to inherit one for starters; Mandrake's Skull Cracker. The Personas was quite powerful to start with, so complementing it with a physical skill seemed ideal. Plus, the skill he chose to inherit gave a medium probability of inflicting Confuse, which was also nice.

"Is this the Persona you want?"

"Yeah."

Elizabeth laid down two cards containing each Personas on the table and the two formed a link. The Personas came out of the cards and rose up to about as high as the elevator clock above the window. A summoning circle appear and the two Personas merge together, forming the new Persona, the two-horned horse known as Bicorn.

Then he was left with two, Orpheus and Pixie. To stop them from flirting inside his head, he paid money and re-summoned the Personas he just used as fodder earlier and moved on.

The other Persona he could create with Mandrake as fodder was Genbu, so he went on ahead and pair it with Pixie in order to create it. He chose to inherit two skills: Pixie's Dia and Resist Confuse respectively. Aside from being the assigned Ice-based Persona, he thought giving it another recovery skill plus an added resistance against an ailment was complementary enough.

Once again, he splashed money and re-summoned the fodders. Using Jack-o-Lantern and Pixie, he created Incubus. As for the skills inherited, he chose the former's Sharp Student and Dazzler. Incubus had a potential to successfully inflict ailments so he gave it another option besides Evil Touch. A skill which raised his concentration in battle was also not bad of an addition. As he looked at the description of the first skill Incubus would learn, Eiha, the following words "Curse damage" caught his eye.

"What's a 'Curse'?"

"It's the substitute for 'Dark' skills. In addition, 'Light' has been substituted by 'Bless', a type of element your initial Persona, Orpheus, is strong against."

"Are they any different?"

"Yes, and no. 'Bless' and 'Curse' are technically still the same as Light and Dark respectively. In addition, both 'Bless' and 'Curse' skills now include ones that don't immediately inflict instant death to those weak against them. As instant death skills of both elements rely on luck, which can be sparse at times, non-instant kill variants of said elements emerged. They work the same as any other elemental skills."

"I see. Seems more practical than before..."

After he confirmed the creation of Genbu he decided that would be all for fusion in that visit. He hadn't created a Persona with Bless skills but he thought it's alright for the time being. He didn't forget to re-summon the fusion materials as he didn't want to lose his attacking options.

Instead of looking satisfied he was looking rather lost, as if something was on his mind.

"Is something the matter?" Elizabeth asked.

"..." Minato was silent, losing himself in thoughts.

"Is something the matter...? You look distraught."

He was brought back to the real world after hearing Elizabeth's question.

"Yeah... The thought of what happened over the first week of school."

Minato told the Velvet Siblings of Mr. Kamoshida, and how he was actually controlling the school and managed to drive a student into attempting suicide. He never thought someone that cruel would actually exist. A feeling of disgust was also apparent from the way he said some things that actually disturbed him about Mr. Kamoshida. The Velvet Siblings also felt sad for what had happened while keeping their composure.

His aggravation was about to reach full circle as he reached the end of the explanation. He had shown little emotions at school as Makoto Yuki, but the Minato Arisato inside of him was struggling to not lose his cool, waiting to unleash all of the aggravation behind the apathetic, sleepy face. It was then when Elizabeth reached across the table and clasped his hand.

He looked at his fingers intertwining with Elizabeth's on the table and calmed himself down. 'Sorry, I almost lost control there..." He realized he almost uncharacteristically snapped, too.

"It's only natural for you to feel the anguish rising even though you look so calm." Elizabeth replied softly.

Minato smiled. He knew he mustn't lose his cool easily. The one quality which made him a good leader was his calm nature. Even when faced with the prospect of death and friends who cry out of the fear of it, he never cracked. Elizabeth's positive nature were what helped him stay his compass in tough times. In front of him was that Elizabeth, and he could never be more grateful for it.

He then asked Margaret and Theo about whatever new information they had, to which Margaret regretfully answered that they hadn't been able to obtain new info aside from what he already discovered on his own. Theo then followed by stating the possibility that Mr. Kamoshida's problems could somehow be addressed in the collective unconsciousness, despite not knowing the method yet. Before he concluded his visit, he expressed his utmost gratitude to the Velvet Siblings for the opportunity he's given, and to be assisted by three Velvet Room attendants at once. He also didn't forget to thank them for the package Theo gave before getting off his seat.

"I'm afraid I gotta go for now..."

As always, Elizabeth got up and walked him to the door. They held hands as they stood before the door leading to the outside world.

"You can always come here should you require emotional support. I'm aware of the burden bestowed upon you. You don't have to bear it alone..." Elizabeth gazed at Minato's eyes.

"Good to know. Thanks, Elizabeth." Minato reached down and his lips met Elizabeth's. "I'll be seeing you."

"Please come again..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato's List of Personas as of the end of this chapter:  
> >Lv26 Orpheus  
> Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda,  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Endure, Maragion, Marakukaja, Fire Boost  
> >Lv7 Pixie  
> Skills: Zio, Dia, Patra, Tarukaja, Resist Confuse  
> >Lv7 Mandrake  
> Skills: Pulinpa, Energy Drop, Lunge, Sukunda, Skull Cracker  
> >Lv7 Jack-o-Lantern  
> Skills: Agi, Rakunda, Sharp Student, Dazzler, Resist Sleep  
> >Lv4 Bicorn (normal fusion Jack-o-Lantern x Mandrake)  
> Skills: Lunge, Tarunda, Skull Cracker (inherited from Mandrake)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Garu, Ice Wall, Apt Pupil  
> >Lv7 Genbu (normal fusion Mandrake x Pixie)  
> Skills: Bufu, Rakunda, Dia (inherited from Pixie), Resist Confuse (inherited from Pixie)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Patra, Mabufu, Resist Forget, Defense Master  
> >Lv5 Incubus (normal fusion Jack-o-Lantern x Pixie)  
> Skills: Evil Touch, Life Drain, Sharp Student (inherited from Jack-o-Lantern), Dazzler (inherited from Jack-o-Lantern)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Eiha, Tarunda, Dodge Curse


	7. Taking Down the King

Monday. April 25th, 2017.

During the past week the two Wild Cards were pretty much busy with their own business.

Akira started befriending a doctor in his neighborhood, interacted with Sojiro in the after hours, bought some equipment, hung out with Ann and Ryuji, made tools for infiltration with Morgana teaching him, and infiltrated deeper into the castle up to the point where he had found where The Treasure Morgana mentioned was located.

Meanwhile Minato was just chilling around. He went to the batting cage until late night, rented some movies to watch, studied at the school library and at home, did laundry, learned how to cook, went around Tokyo as on his way home, went to Mementos and the Velvet Room to level up and create more Personas respectively.

He also found out that Konoe and Tony's plan of snooping around the volleyball practice had failed since Mr. Kamoshida caught them in the act. It ended up with them looking pretty banged up after Mr. Kamoshida forced them to join the volleyball practice as punishment. They were lucky to not get expelled since they didn't make any kind of threats to him. Nevertheless, it wasn't going to stop them from reporting it to the police, even though they haven't acted on it yet.

* * *

That Monday, there was a ruckus in front of an announcement board before the first bell as the students seem to be paying attention on something stuck all over it which caught them in the eye.

"What's with this weird logo? And who're these Phantom Thieves of Hearts people...?"

Akira, Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana who watched from afar looked around to see how everyone would react.

"...It got everyone excited, so it's all good, yeah?" Ryuji asked.

Suddenly, Kamoshida himself came up to the announcement board, looking pretty angry at what he'd seen. "Who's responsible for this!?"

"Look at that. A predictable reaction for someone who knows what we mean by distorted desires." Morgana smiled.

"I think it's hittin' him pretty hard." Ryuji followed.

"Did you do this!? Or was it you!?" Mr. Kamoshida started accusing students standing around the announcement board, which scared them away. "..Was it you two!?" He came up to the group of Akira, Ann, and Ryuji.

"What're you talking about?" Akira asked.

"What garbage... Eh, it's not a problem. You'll be expelled soon enough anyway."

The school suddenly changed to a distorted form and Kamoshida changed into his Shadow self from the castle. "Come... Steal it, if you can!"

"Was it you!?" Kamoshida asked a blue-haired student as he turned around the corner, to which the blue haired student declined.

"Judging from Kamoshida's response... I'm sure we had an effect on his Palace!" Morgana explained.

"Does that mean The Treasure's appeared!? We'll be able to get it today, right?" Ann asked.

"It's not just 'today'. It's ONLY today. The impact of seeing a calling card doesn't last long, and it cannot be repeated. This will be our one chance to steal The Treasure."

"One day's more than enough for us! Let's do it after school."

Minato was the last person Mr. Kamoshida accused as he approached the announcement board. He picked up one of the calling card and read it while leaning behind a wall as he overheard a group of students and someone who sounded like a talking cat in the distance. As the group of students left, he processed what he just heard.

"Calling card? Palace...? Steal the treasure...?" Minato thought to himself. He finally found a solid lead he could follow. He decided to return to his classroom as the first bell rang.

* * *

"Suguru Kamoshida..."

"Shujin Academy..."

"Pervert..."

"Castle..."

"Destination found. Beginning navigation."

Minato decided to tail a group of students he overheard earlier after he saw a bunch of calling cards posted on an announcement board, assuming they're the Phantom Thieves of Hearts they claimed themselves to be. After three attempts, he finally succeeded inputting the correct keywords to what he assumed to be a separate world from Mementos.

Shujin Academy's building in front of him changed to a really big castle with the school's name written on the gate. Weirdly enough, his outfit didn't change in the slightest unlike in Mementos. As of that moment, Minato was only wearing his school outfit without carrying any weapons, nor the mask. He already prepared himself in case something like that would happen and put on a pair of fingerless biker gloves with reinforced knuckles he bought the other day in case he wanted to fight without weapons. As for summoning his Personas, he always had his Evoker ready just in case the mask failed him.

From his end of the bridge leading to the castle entrance, he spotted a group of guards patrolling on the other side, which meant breaking in through the front door was not an option. He had no weapon other than his fists, so bulldozing through them was out of the question. He looked around, then up, and found three banners hanging to the right of the entrance. He jumped off the bridge into the water and climbed up one of the banners as soon as he reached it. He didn't forget to mark his entrance point before he started traversing the castle, in case he needed an exit.

Navigating the castle proved to be challenging, but not something he couldn't do. All he had to do was slip by the guards, which was new to him as he never had to be as stealthy before. The larger hallways were easier to go through because they provided a lot of hiding spots, but he was forced to fight in the narrower areas where he had to defeat the guards to progress.

Even then, with the fighting he's been doing inside Mementos, it wasn't much of a challenge. At first he didn't know that he had to take the guards' masks off to get the jump on them. Still, to avoid alerting other guards, he eventually got the hang of it, even though his way of unmasking the guards were still quite rough as he had to strangle them down with all of his strength before removing the masks. Once the masks were off, they're met by his fists and kicks without reply.

As he's progressing along, he noticed he hadn't been using his Personas at all because he didn't feel the need to since the ones he fought were the same ones he had encountered in Mementos, aside from the mask not appearing. But once again, for the sake of stealth, he opted against using the Evoker should he be forced to summon his Personas since a pull of the trigger actually emitted quite the loud bang which wouldn't go unnoticed. Therefore, he concentrated on trying to make his mask appear. After a few seconds, he succeeded as he could feel the same colorless mask he had been using to summon his Personas attach itself to his face.

As he arrived in front of an open door leading to the Throne Room, he saw something coming out of the door at the back. He stood beside the open door to avoid being seen. Then he saw someone coming up the stairs, which made him retreat to a room nearby. After a minute of not being seen, he got out and walked back to the open Throne Room. The oppressive atmosphere he felt even before he stepped in front of the open door was a sign that he had to hide, so he climbed up one of the statues which resembled a female body and got up the terrace of the Throne Room. He peeked through one of the fairly huge railing posts and saw three people wearing extravagant clothing and a little cat figure confronting who looked like the king of the castle embracing a beautiful female wearing minimal clothing while holding a crown.

From the calling card he grabbed earlier, Minato thought it was safe to assume the four people standing before the supposed king were the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Moreoverly, he recognized one of them, wearing a black trench coat, as the frizzy-haired second-year transfer student people had been speaking ill about. As he the confrontation heated up, he tucked himself back behind the massive railing covered by bushes and concentrated on eavesdropping.

* * *

"What a selfish misunderstanding..."

"How is it a misunderstanding!? You were doing things that you kept in secret from others!"

"The people around me were the ones who kept it secret. Adults who want to share in my accomplishments, students who have the drive to become winners... They willingly protect me so that we all may profit from it."

"Profit!?"

"There are too many imbeciles who don't understand that! Including naive brats like you and the girl who tried to kill herself!"

"True, she's a total idiot...letting you manipulate her, trying to commit suicide... And I'm even more of a dumbass for not realizing that! But no matter what kind of fool someone might be... They don't need permission to live their lives!"

"Drop the attitude, you mediocre peasant! There's no wrong in using my gifts for my gain!" "I'm a cut above all other humans!"

"Above...? You mean beneath! You're a goddamn demon obsessed with your sick desires!"

Shadow Kamoshida chuckled, and a nasty red aura began gathering around him. "That's right. I'm not like you... I am a demon who rules this world!"

The king suddenly transformed into a gigantic pink hideous-looking four-legged, four-armed figure with its long tongue sticking out. It's holding a knife, a fork, a glass of wine with the fake Ann swimming in it, and a stick in each of its hands, accompanied with chained slaves and a golden chalice with females inside of it. The look was completed with the same crown it was holding earlier. It called itself Asmodeus.

The sight of it grossed out the Phantom Thieves standing before them.

"I'm allowed to do whatever the hell I want!"

"Look! The Treasure's over there! We should catch him off guard and steal it! Let's attack him and wait for that opportunity!" Morgana pointed at the sparkling crown.

"Arsene, Eiha!"

"Captain Kidd, Zio!"

"Zorro, Garu!"

"Carmen, Agi!"

All four Phantom Thieves attacked one after another in hopes of finding a weakness. Each of them managed to chip the boss' health away, but none managed to knock it down.

Asmodeus ordered its slaves to attack the Phantom Thieves, releasing a flurry of volleyball spikes directed at each of them. Akira and Morgana dodged most of them, Ryuji batted away some of the spikes before taking minimal damage, and Ann gave Ryuji twice the work with her taking cover behind Ryuji resulting in Ryuji getting some of his health chipped away.

"Skull, focus on attacking! Panther, prioritize healing! Mona, attack or heal as you see fit! I'll fill the gaps..."

Akira gave commands to his fellow Phantom Thieves which was complied in unison.

"Mokoi, Tarukaja!"

"Take this! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

"Hang in there, Skull. Carmen, Dia!"

"Ha! Zorro, Garu!"

Akira increased Ryuji's attack power seeing that he had the potential to deal the most amount of damage. Ryuji kept attacking and managed to do just that even though it's still miniscule compared to Asmodeus' health pool. Ann went ahead and healed Ryuji so he could keep using physical attacks without depleting his health. Mona also kept attacking with his Wind spell. The second round of attacks had managed to reduce Asmodeus' health by a good amount. Even though it took quite some time to chip away damage, it looked like the scales were tipping to the Phantom Thieves' side. Asmodeus again ordered his slaves to attack the Phantom Thieves which managed to deal slightly more damage than last time but it wasn't really the end of the world, all things considered.

Suddenly, Asmodeus stuck its knife and fork into the golden chalice, grabbed one of the females inside, and ate it. It immediately restored its health, reverting everything back to square one.

"Nnnnngh! I need healin'! Come at me, you pieces of shit! I ain't lettin' you sleep tonight!"

"What!?"

"Now this is bullshit!"

"Calm down, everyone!"

Ryuji and Ann looked nonplussed. Akira acted and calmed them down. He didn't see that one coming either but it's not the time to complain.

"He healed himself...? Is it because he ate those inside there...?" Morgana's eyes widened as he witnessed what just happened.

* * *

Up in the terrace, now hiding behind a makeshift cover made out of nearby wooden boxes he put together, Minato had further elaborated his plan. He planned on rigging the battle in favor of the Phantom Thieves without anyone knowing, even the Phantom Thieves themselves. He knew it's going to be a challenge, but he's one of the most confident man around whenever he's faced with adversity. He cycled through his Personas as he's choosing the best course of action.

"Hua Po... Rakunda..."

He quickly reacted and silently summoned a Persona after seeing the boss heal itself. As it commanded its slaves to attack the Phantom Thieves, he directed a defensive debuff spell at the golden chalice so the Phantom Thieves below could quickly destroy it and prevent the boss from healing again.

* * *

"Focus on the Trophy of Obsession!"

"Sure, just in case he tries that again!"

"Berith, Double Fangs!"

"Persona! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

Akira and Ryuji combined and managed to deal a good amount of damage to the chalice, putting a lot of dents on it.

"Hey!" Asmodeus gasped. "You don't know what this is worth, so stop touching it! Don't do it anymore, got it? I've warned you!"

"Eff you and that trophy, asshole!" Ryuji replied.

"When someone tells us not to do something, it makes us want to do it even more!" Morgana followed.

"You seem to know a thing or two about youth, Mona..." Ann also followed.

* * *

"The new Wild Card..."

Those words hadn't left Minato's mind since he first heard it. He had suspicions on the frizzy-haired boy when he saw him in a group of three and heard a talking cat sticking out of his bag at school. As he witnessed the fight and the frizzy-haired boy's ability to switch Personas, his suspicions were finally confirmed. He had found the new Wild Card who's taking part in a game where he's already at a disadvantage; the second-year, glasses-wearing, timid-looking, ill-spoken, Akira Kurusu. He could breathe a sigh of relief as he found that his decision to follow the frizzy-haired boy and his friends into the Metaverse was a good one.

All of a sudden, his objective became clearer. Still, he's not allowed to be seen so he couldn't just jump down. He decided to stick to his plan.

"Orpheus..." He summoned Orpheus, who immediately crouched beside him and watched the fight behind cover.

"Marakukaja..." Orpheus grabbed its lyre and played a soft tone.

He decided to grant them a huge gift, a defensive buff spell, seeing that the boss' attacks don't seem to follow any of the elements. Judging from their Personas, he could at least identify what elements the four of them were strong against.

As the battle progressed, another idea to rig it suddenly crossed his mind.

* * *

"Panther, try attacking the chalice alongside Skull. I'll be covering alongside Mona."

"Zorro, Dia!"

"Come, Carmen! Agi!"

"Mokoi, Tarukaja!"

"Persona! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

Ann and Ryuji's attack landed on the chalice as they scramble out to dodge the slaves' flurry of spikes.

"I'll finish the chalice! Berith, Double Fangs!"

Akira summoned Berith to finish off the trophy. However, only one of the two hits managed to deal damage. Nevertheless, the chalice was on its ropes, and Ryuji stepped up to attack it with an Electricity spell.

"Captain Kidd, Zio!"

* * *

"Succubus, Zio...!"

It turned out the one idea which suddenly popped into Minato's mind was to momentarily amplify one of the Phantom Thieves' attack by synchronizing the timing of his summoning to theirs. However, he couldn't just do it recklessly. He had to do it on a matching elemental spell, and match it with someone under the effect of Tarukaja, which increased the attack power, to make it believable.

He concentrated hard and synced his Zio with the blond-haired boy's Zio. Both Electricity spell managed to hit the chalice at the same time, reducing it to dust. He quickly called back his Persona and went back into cover.

* * *

"Holy shit! That came out stronger than I thought!" Ryuji had learned a bit of what his Persona could do, including some of the stuff the others could. But it was still a surprise for him that the effect of Tarukaja could be that powerful.

"Nice job, Skull!"

"Now there's just him to deal with..."

"...Ack! No way... This was from when I won the nationals..." Asmodeus had been knocked down for the first time.

"All right!"

The Phantom Thieves quickly surrounded Asmodeus, pointing their guns at it.

"You think you can get away with doing such a thing? Do you realize who I am!? I am Kamoshida! I'm the king! Don't you get it!?"

"So?"

"You're seriously lame right now..."

"We came all this way to steal that! Just give up and hand it over!"

"Silence! I won't let the likes of you have this!"

"You still have the energy to say that...?"

"I'm the king! If not, then who is!?"

* * *

"Whatever..." Minato murmured from behind cover.

* * *

"Let's have him!"

The Phantom Thieves jumped in and pummeled Asmodeus, which managed to chip away some of its health. Morgana felt it's not going to be enough to defeat it, so he came up with another plan.

"We won't get anywhere with brute force... Time for Plan B."

"What's the Plan B?"

"See that terrace? One of us will have to climb up and knock the crown off while the others distract him." Morgana pointed at the terrace. "Joker, decide on who you think is best for the job. Let's steal The Treasure without him noticing!"

"Alright..." Akira thought about who to send for a few seconds. "Skull, you do it. We'll distract him."

"Okay! Here I go! Cover me!"

Ryuji left the battle and climbed onto one of the pillars on the left.

* * *

This was an interesting development according to Minato's point of view, who's hiding on the other side of the terrace, near the gap where he sneaked in from. As he watched the blond-haired boy climb up, he knew he didn't have time to admire the strategy. He still had a battle to rig, after all.

"Hua Po... Rakunda."

He cast a defensive debuff spell on the boss then watched to see whether the people downstairs could pull off their plan.

Much to his dismay, it didn't happen. They couldn't distract the boss long enough for it to not notice someone climbing onto the terrace. The blond-haired boy was forced to rejoin the battle and almost got his head chopped off by a knife in the process.

* * *

"Sorry, he noticed me..."

"No problem, Skull. We'll try it again when it's safe enough."

Despite failing knock the crown off, they were actually doing quite well. No one took severe damage although Ryuji needed to be constantly healed since he used up his health to do physical attacks and acted as the meat shield against the slaves' attacks.

After a while, Asmodeus decided to show another trick up its sleeve. It drank the wine it's been holding, which raised its attack power, then decided to up its game.

"Slaves! Bring over you-know-what!" He commanded the slaves to leave the battle, "Time for my killshot when I was active and rockin' it! Killshot...as in I make the kill!"

"Take this! The spike that conquered the world! Gold Medal Spike!"

"Shit...!"

"Guys-"

Asmodeus launched himself high in the air and spiked a gigantic volleyball towards the Phantom Thieves as they scramble to protect themselves. The spike was so strong if formed a thick cloud of smoke as it landed like a bomb.

* * *

Minato didn't expect that out of the boss. He too had to take cover from the attack even though it wasn't directed at him. When the smoke partly cleared, he saw the four Phantom Thieves still standing, but they took the full brunt of the assault which left them severely hurt. He himself was fine, and his makeshift hiding held up.

"Orpheus... Cadenza!"

He wasted no time and casted a spell which was unique to Orpheus as it had to be done in combination with another Persona. However, it had solely become Orpheus' skill. The skill, Cadenza, was directed at the Phantom Thieves. It managed to heal them about halfway through, and granted them an agility boost which was necessary if they wanted to survive.

"Tarunda..."

He wasted no time and quickly commanded Orpheus to reduce the boss' attack power. He called back Orpheus and ducked back into cover as the smoke fully cleared to avoid anyone noticing.

* * *

"Still standing, huh? Quite tenacious, aren't we? You want to see my killshot again, don't you?" Asmodeus sat down after spiking the world out of them.

"Is everyone okay!?" Akira looked around and checked on his friends.

"This bastard isn't playing around... We're still standing, by the way." Ryuji gasped for breath.

"Good, let's heal each other first, then prepare in case another one is coming."

They healed each other using a combination of items and Dia to full health. As they finished healing, Asmodeus repeated his previous pattern.

"It's gonna do the same! Everyone, brace!"

The Phantom Thieves put themselves on guard as another spike was bombing its way to their direction.

* * *

"Marakukaja!"

Minato summoned Orpheus again and quickly raised the defense of the Phantom Thieves, then braced for his dear life behind the cover while hoping his makeshift hiding would withstand the force like before.

* * *

"Still standing again!?" Asmodeus looked nonplussed as the smoke cleared to see the Phantom Thieves still standing like before.

"What's that? That didn't hurt one bit!" Ryuji taunted.

"Huh?"

"You heard me, asshole! We're still standing!"

"...We still need to keep healing just in case, Skull..." Morgana reminded Ryuji.

The second attack did less damage than before even after drinking the wine again. This enraged Asmodeus, but it wasn't about to lose its cool.

The fight went on to a bit of a stalemate as the Phantom Thieves and Asmodeus traded blows. With the battle on a stalemate, Morgana deemed it safe to execute his plan again.

"Let's do that plan again!"

"For real!? Is it safe enough!?"

"This has to be done, otherwise we're getting nowhere." Morgana narrowed his eyes. "Joker! Send me up! Time to show you my skills!"

"Alright. Go, Mona!"

"You better not screw this up! We'll cover you!"

Mona quickly left to climb up to the terrace. Meanwhile Akira decided to cast Tarukaja on Ryuji while Ann was on the receiving end of Ryuji's Tarukaja.

Asmodeus hadn't done the same attacking pattern for the time being, instead resorting to its weapons and tongue to try hit the Phantom Thieves. It managed to deal some damage, but not to the point of critical health.

"Panther, Skull, attack him. I'll make sure he doesn't move around..." Akira commanded Ann and Ryuji. "Obariyon, Sukunda!"

"Get wrecked! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

"Hi-yah! Carmen, Agi!"

* * *

"Hua Po! Agi!"

Minato decided to amplify the girl wearing red's Fire spell using Hua Po instead of Orpheus. Orpheus, whose Fire spell was a level higher in Agilao, would've overdone it. He synced his summoning with her, and the Fire spell managed to deal big damage to the boss and he got away with it due to his immaculate timing. Satisfied with the result, he got back into cover.

* * *

The significant amount of damage Ann and Ryuji dealt to Asmodeus had managed to distract it. Akira casted Tarukaja on himself for good measure should he decide to attack.

"Now listen up. This school exists because I'm around. You're the only ones who don't respect me, you know. You're misunderstanding it all! I haven't sexually harassed anyone! They came on to me because they wanted to get on my good side!"

"And I thought the principal's speech was boring enough..."

"I don't know what you're saying, but at least I can get closer to The Treasure."

* * *

"Whatever..." Minato sighed.

* * *

As the fight progressed, the three of them had finally been able to reduce Asmodeus' health to about a quarter, and they've also managed to keep its attention away from the climbing Morgana. The distracted Asmodeus had failed to notice the Phantom Thieves lacking one personnel in the battle.

"Wait, is there one less of you? I knew it! Someone's missing! Where'd he go!?"

"Too late!"

That was the cue for Morgana. He jumped onto the chandelier and kicked the crown off the king. They finally succeeded executing the plan.

"Nooo! My... my precious...!" The king could only watch as its crown was knocked off to the ground. The scales were tipping heavily to the Phantom Thieves' side as Asmodeus seemed dejected.

"Take this! Carmen, Agi!"

"Captain Kidd, Zio!"

Both attacks landed, leaving Asmodeus on the last ropes.

"Finish him, Joker!"

"Pillage him, Arsene! Eiha!"

* * *

For one last time in the battle, Minato concentrated, synced his timing with the new Wild Card's attack.

"Succubus, Eiha."

* * *

The Curse spell landed square, finally defeating Asmodeus. It dissolved into nothingness and all that's left was the now weakened Shadow Kamoshida. The crown shrunk back to its original size but Shadow Kamoshida acted quickly and took it as he ran towards an open veranda.

"Nngh..."

"What's wrong? Not running away? Why don't you run? Aren't you a great athlete?" Ann taunted Shadow Kamoshida.

"It's always been like this... All those goddamn hyenas forcing their expectations on me...! I'm doing this all for them! What's wrong about demanding a reward for that!?" Shadow Kamoshida looked out as he poured the last of his feelings.

"Now you're makin' excuses...? We'll do something about that distorted heart of yours."

"Scared...? Right now, you're seeing the same view that Shiho did. I'm sure she was scared too...except she had no choice but to jump... What will you do? Will you jump...or would you rather die here?"

Ann summoned Carmen, rage visible from her face.

"Do you wanna finish him off? It's your call." Morgana looked at Ann.

"No, please wait! I beg you... Just forgive me!"

"Shut up. I bet everyone told you the same. But you... You took everything from them!" Carmen deliberately shot a fireball which just missed Shadow Kamoshida. Shadow Kamoshida only shrieked in fear.

"I...I accept defeat... You want this? Take it." He tossed the crown towards them, which Akira caught. "Go ahead and finish me off. You do that, and my real self will go down too. You have that right since you've won."

Ann balled one fist, and directed the other hand onto Shadow Kamoshida, wanting to actually finish him off.

"Stop! Killing him will kill the real Kamoshida!" Ryuji cried.

Akira stepped in front of her in a yielding gesture. "Panther... We're only here for The Treasure." He glanced at Ann while shaking his head, signaling Ann to stop.

However, Ann didn't flinch and shoved Akira out of the way. She commanded Carmen to fire another fireball.

"Ann!" Ryuji cried again.

Fortunately, the fireball missed the pitiful sight of Shadow Kamoshida seemingly accepting his fate. Fortunately, too, Ann managed to stay her compass. The outcome would've been different otherwise.

"If his mind shuts down, he can't admit his crimes."

"You're kind, Lady Ann."

"Great job at controlling yourself."

"I've lost... You're through when you lose... What am I...What am I supposed to do now?" Shadow Kamoshida fell to his knees and cried on the floor.

"Atone for your sins..." Akira answered.

"All right... I will leave now and return to my real self... I'll make certain that I-" Before he could finish the sentence, Shadow Kamoshida disappeared into the light.

* * *

Minato had seen enough. The fight was over, and the king had accepted defeat. The Phantom Thieves had done exactly what they said in the calling card. He sneaked out as they contemplated about what just happened to avoid being seen. He smiled, knowing all had ended well.

As he made his escape, he commended The Phantom Thieves' effort to restrain their will to kill the king inside his heart. He wondered if he and his friends...Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Fuuka, Aigis, Ken, Koromaru, even Shinjiro would be able to do the same under the same circumstances. He's aware that the Phantom Thieves were dealing with a different thing compared to what he had to go through, but what they did had gained his respect.

Moreoverly, he also gained a lot of new information. Of distorted desires forming separate worlds, of not killing the world's ruler to prevent killing its real self, of stealing its prized possession to change its heart, and of the Wild Card he's going to be helping from that point on. He looked forward to sharing it all with the Velvet Siblings as soon as he visited the Velvet Room.

Admittedly, seeing the Phantom Thieves fight together, even though there were only the four of them, made him think of the old times, and his friends. It had been seven years since his death. He wondered how they're all doing in his stead. He hadn't thought of his friends ever since he was alive again, but seeing and assisting the Phantom Thieves made him miss them. The thought made Minato shed a tear as he glided down the banner he came from as the castle was crumbling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato's List of Personas as of the end of this chapter:  
> >Lv32 Orpheus  
> Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda, Endure, Maragion, Marakukaja, Fire Boost  
> >Lv12 Genbu  
> Skills: Bufu, Rakunda, Dia, Resist Confuse, Patra, Mabufu, Resist Forget, Defense Master  
> >Lv6 Kelpie (normal fusion Bicorn x Mandrake)  
> Skills: Lunge, Garu, Skull Cracker (inherited from Bicorn), Apt Pupil (inherited from Bicorn)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Resist Brainwash, Sukukaja, Terror Claw  
> >Lv9 Hua Po (normal fusion Mandrake x Genbu)  
> Skills: Agi, Dormina, Sukunda (inherited from Mandrake), Rakunda (inherited from Genbu)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Tarunda, Resist Forget, Maragi, Burn Boost  
> >Lv8 Succubus (normal fusion Pixie x Incubus)  
> Skills: Marin Karin, Rebellion, Zio (inherited from Pixie), Eiha (inherited from Incubus), Evil Touch (inherited from Incubus)  
> Next skill unlocked: Agi, Dekaja, Brainwash Boost, Mudo  
> >Lv6 Saki Mitama (normal fusion Jack-o-Lantern x Bicorn)  
> Skills: Bufu, Energy Drop, Wind Wall, Resist Sleep (inherited by Jack-o-Lantern)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Growth 1, Rakukaja, Resist Dizzy


	8. Golden Week

Tuesday. May 3rd, 2017.

For the first time in a while, Minato was bored out of his mind. He had cleaned up his apartment, and did laundry the night before. He wasn't in the mood to bunk himself and yet he didn't really have plans for that day. As he thought of anything to do, he turned on the TV which was showing a game of baseball.

_"Welcome back to day one of the Golden Week Holidays Baseball from Central Shinjuku Stadium. The score is currently 0-0 between the visitors Iwatodai Moronamin-G Moonlight and hosts Tokyo TrustBank Pelicans. We're at the top of the third inning and coming up for the visiting team, batting eighth in the order, is rookie designated hitter, Junpei Iori."_

"Junpei Iori?" Minato made sure he didn't hear it wrong as he put down a can of root beer on the table. He's not too big on baseball, but hearing what sounded like his friend's name vested his interest in watching.

The camera panned to the batter wearing predominantly light blue shirt and white trousers. Minato still remembered vividly of Junpei's facial features, most notably the goatee, which had grown out but well-groomed. His hair also had grown out as he no longer sported a buzz cut. The man he saw was definitely none other than Junpei.

The play-by-play commentator and the analyst had a discussion as Junpei walked up to the plate.

" _Fun_ _fact about Junpei Iori, is that three years ago before he decided to try going pro he was a little league coach and took his team to a championship. He then turned down an offer to be the head coach for his alma mater, Gekkoukan High who were starting a baseball program, to instead try out for a development league team."_

_"Gekkoukan High didn't have a baseball team when he was a student?"_

_"Sadly, no, they didn't. If there was one he'd probably be a pro for years now..."_

Junpei's first at-bat went all the way to the 3-2 count before he hit a fly ball to the center field.

Two innings later, the score was still 0-0 despite a few base hits from both teams. Good defensive plays and pitching prevented both teams from scoring. At the top of sixth inning, it was his turn to bat again with two outs and a runner in the first base. This time, he fared better, scoring a single off a sinker. Unfortunately, the next batter was struck out. The game opened up a bit for both teams in the following two innings with both teams scoring one run each. The Moonlight scored from a solo home run while the Pelicans scored after a double allowed one of their runners to come home safely.

Then came the top of ninth inning. The Moonlight had managed to put runners on first and third base with no outs when Junpei stepped up to the plate. He deliberately passed a slider on the first pitch. A loud sound was heard as he hit a curveball.

_"It's in the air to right field... Kikuchi going back...and it's gone!"_

Junpei had hit a home run.

_"It's Junpei Iori's fourth home run of the season... His first on the road!"_

_"At first it didn't sound too good on the bat, it gives you an idea just how strong his swing was..."_

Minato clapped at the TV for Junpei's success as the camera panned to him walking to his team's dugout while greeted by his teammates as he arrived. Some shook his hand, some gave him the high-five, some embraced him, and some playfully hit him with helmets as the Moonlight took a 4-1 lead late in the game.

The bottom of the ninth inning provided a bit of a scare for the Moonlight as the Pelicans tried to spark a late rally of their own. Minato watched intently as plays were being made, rooting for Junpei's team to win. A couple of base hits happened, but the Moonlight played well. They managed to cancel out a Pelicans' runner's attempt to steal home to get the first out. The pitcher managed to strike out the next batter for out number two. And finally, the final batter couldn't get the ball past the first baseman and was able to step on the base to get the third out and end the game with a 4-1 victory for the Moonlight.

Minato gave them a round of applause as both teams shook hands and bow at each other. Before the broadcast ended, the field reporter managed to sneak in a short interview with Junpei who was selected as player of the game with his homerun.

_"Iori-san, congratulations for the first homerun on the road. A decisive one, too. Can you talk us through it?"_

_"Thank you... Well, I was just getting out there and giving it a go. But it seems the wind did help me a bit there, haha. I knew the contact wasn't that good so yeah thank you Mother Nature!"_

_"And since your first ever outing at the beginning of the season you've only been struck out in six at-bats. What motivated you to be able to hit even though the results at times weren't anything you desire?"_

_"Well, like I said, I was just giving it a go with all I've got and I'm always determined to try contribute to the team. Studying some tapes before the games really helped too."_

_"And lastly, anything you wanna say to anyone? To the fans...and relatives alike?"_

_"First of all, thanks for everyone who've been cheering us since day one in and out of Iwatodai... Chidori, I got a homerun on the road! And, uh, to a special friend of mine up there...I'm okay, buddy. We're all doing well in your stead."_

_"Very encouraging words, Iori-san. Alright then, congratulations and enjoy the victory!"_

Junpei left to celebrate with his teammates as the reporter concluded the interview.

_"That was my short interview with today's player of the game, the Moonlight DH, Junpei Iori. The game ends 4-1 for the visitors Iwatodai Moronamin-G Moonlight as they kick start the series with a win. In behalf of all the broadcasting crew, I bid you farewell. From the Central Shinjuku Stadium, we sign off! Back to the studio..."_

Those final words from Junpei made Minato smile sheepishly. Even though he hadn't thought of what would happen if his old friends actually saw him alive and walking about again right at that moment, he's glad that he's not forgotten. A lot of things had crossed his mind since he was alive again regarding his friends but to him knowing one of them had been doing well was a great relief for him. He couldn't help but think of the others and what they might be doing.

* * *

"The chief really worked us hard..."

Akira and Morgana's original plan to sell the Treasure they obtained from Kamoshida's castle was a no-go as he was stuck working downstairs in the cafe all day. Even Morgana felt tired, even though he only had to wait.

Akira's phone rang, showing new messages from the Phantom Thieves' group chat.

"Did you see!? It was on the news! No way the school's gonna be able to play dumb after that." Ryuji referred to the news from earlier in which Kamoshida's whole scandal had been discovered and some students were interviewed about it.

"I saw it too. Shiho's name didn't come up, right?" Shiho was Ann's only concern. Having the poor girl's name mentioned in the news would only make her image and the school's worse.

"Not that I saw. I'd bet they wanted to keep that part quiet."

"I'm so glad..."

"It's finally over then... All we gotta do now is eat some tasty shit and put all this crap behind us. I'm totally looking forward to this celebration party."

"I'll try not to let you guys down!"

Both Ann and Ryuji were excited about the upcoming celebration party, which was two days from then. Admittedly, it got Akira excited too, even though he hadn't done his end of the plan which was getting the funds needed for the party.

"All right, we need to go sell the gold medal tomorrow. Even if the chief wants your help, make sure you turn him down, OK?" They knew they only had the next day to sell off the medal.

Akira nodded. With that, they ended the day.

Wednesday. May 4th, 2017.

Before Akira left the premises, he caught up with Sojiro.

"I'll be going out for a bit..." Said Akira.

"Make sure you do the dishes." Sojiro replied.

"I'll do it when I get back..." Akira promised.

Sojiro wasn't pleased. "Just do it. Don't get cocky with me."

They were interrupted by a woman wearing a suit coming into the cafe. "Welcome."

"Am I interrupting something?" Said the woman, named Sae Niijima.

"Not at all." Sojiro still didn't look pleased.

Their attention was diverted to the news being shown on TV.

_"The cause of the runaway-train incident in the subway the other day still has not been found. Police are hurrying to solve the matter as it may relate to the rise in psychotic breakdown incidents."_

"Oh, is that the thing everyone's been talking about?"

"Doesn't it make you curious? People who were living normal lives suddenly went mad or deranged out of the blue... Not to mention that it's happening one after another... Could they really be coincidental?"

"Hmm..." Sojiro scratched his head. "Leaving that aside, what'll you have?"

"...I'll have the house blend please." She turned to Akira after ordering. "Are you a part-timer? I'm surprised this place can afford one."

"That's exactly the case." Sojiro was right on that part, except Akira wasn't going to work at the cafe that day.

"Are you a high-school student? Where do you attend?" She asked Akira.

"I go to Shujin Academy." Akira answered.

"Oh...? Someone I know goes there as well. I've heard that things are rough right now..."

Since it's concerning Shujin, Sae decided to tell what was going on, not that everyone hadn't known it already.

"A teacher named Kamoshida confessed his crimes like he was a completely different person, supposedly. And it happened 'all of a sudden' one day..." Sae was deep in her thoughts. "Can a person's mental state change so easily?"

Akira played the idiot ball, while Sojiro just shrugged it off. "Huh."

"Is my drink ready yet?" Sae sighed, asking Sojiro who hadn't moved from his spot since she came.

"...Coming right up."

Akira decided to leave as Sojiro was busy making Sae's order.

* * *

"Welcome..." Sojiro greeted a customer. "Oh, Yuki-kun!

Twenty five minutes after Akira left, Minato came to the cafe carrying a bag on his shoulder.

"What'll you have?"

"A house blend, please." Minato sat on a table close the the side of the bar where a woman wearing a suit was sitting.

The woman in a suit turned to the table to look at the bluenette who's pulling out a laptop from his bag, then talked to Sojiro.

"Do you know him?"

"Uh... Yeah, he lives in the neighborhood. A student at Shujin, just like the one from earlier."

"A student? I've seen my fair share of weird hairstyles among them, but his hair just takes the cake... It actually covers half of his face." She turned to the bluenette. "But from the looks of it he doesn't seem to be a delinquent."

The bluenette in question didn't even care, even though he partly heard what they're talking about.

"What's wrong?" Sojiro asked the woman whose gaze at the bluenette was getting more intense.

"...Nothing." She was brought back to the real world. "Something about him just disturbs me... But that's none of my business."

"He's just a regular transfer student..."

Five minutes later, she had finished her coffee and decided to leave.

...

About twenty minutes later, Minato's phone rang. He got a text from Konoe.

**\- IM CHAT LOG -**

**Kenta Konoe**

**Konoe:** Wanna go to the baseball game in Shinjuku?

 **Me:** I can't. I have Ms. Chouno's assignment to do.

**\- CHAT LOG END -**

There was no reply from Konoe, which was rather odd. But minutes later, another message came in. Instead of from a single person, it was from a group chat.

**\- IM CHAT LOG -**

**[Unnamed Group]  
Me; Kenta Konoe; "Tony" Tonoguchi**

**Konoe:** Oh yeah... There's "that" assignment...

 **Tony:** Dude, you're currently working on it?

 **Me:** Yeah...

 **Konoe:** Neat! How about we work on it together?

 **Tony:** That's not a bad idea... Where are you right now?

 **Me:** Cafe Leblanc, Yongen-Jaya.

 **Konoe:** Alright, we'll be on our way. Meet you at the station, Tony!

**\- CHAT LOG END -**

The group chat ended and Minato put his phone down to continue working on the assignment. He could've done it alone in his apartment, but he wanted a little change of scenery without going far and the cafe was the perfect spot for it.

Around thirty minutes later, Konoe and Tony arrived at the cafe.

"Welcome..."

"Oh, I know this place..." Konoe who had been in the cafe before immediately placed an order. "Boss, one house blend, please."

"And what it'll be for your friend?"

"I'll also take the house blend."

"Coming right up."

"You've been here before, dude?"

"Well, yeah, only once... Although this neighborhood has a lot going on. There's also a batting cage, a bath house, a supermarket, a pawn shop, there's even a clinic too."

As Konoe and Tony opened their laptops, they looked at the TV which was broadcasting a game of baseball.

"I was about to go to the game until you reminded me of Ms. Chouno's assignment." Konoe sighed. It wasn't going stop him from cheering the baseball team playing only twenty minutes from where he lived. "Go Pels! The loss from yesterday was just a fluke!"

"Dude, you're already losing at the moment... Getting spanked around at home..." Tony snorted.

"Shut up. We lost to a late rally yesterday..."

Then came a loud pop. Someone just murdered a pitch to the stands.

_"Iori goes deep center field... Uekusa's still chasing...and it's gone again! Home runs in back-to-back games for Junpei Iori as the Moonlight extend their lead to 4-0 courtesy of Iori's two-run homer!"_

"Goddammit... It's only May and we already suck!" Grunted Konoe who looked like he was screaming inside after seeing the baseball team he supported already falling four runs behind in the third inning.

Meanwhile Tony was laughing. As a fan of the neighboring Tokyo team, the Tokyo Ordyne Troopers, it was a moment of gold seeing his best friend's team get decimated by an expansion team. "This is good... Keep sucking, Pelicans." Tony turned to Minato. "On the other hand, your reaction is rather muted, Yuki..."

"Huh? Why are you asking him?" Konoe got up from lying on the table.

"Didn't you know? He's an Iwatodai native..." Tony answered, referring to the visiting team from Iwatodai, Minato's hometown.

"Huh." Konoe snorted. "I bet he's laughing his ass off behind that carefree face..."

Minato chuckled. He rarely showed exaggerated reactions to things, if ever.

Konoe decided to turn his attention away from the baseball game. "Man... This Golden Week sure has sucked ass..."

"Not for me... Seeing your face of defeat has been the highlight of my Golden Week."

"It's not like the Troopers are doing any better... They lost too last night, hm?"

"Our first defeat since two weeks ago... No big deal, we're still top of the conference anyway."

"Man, wipe that grin off your face!"

Tony decided to change the subject as they could hear the announcer say another run had been scored in the game.

"It's still crazy that Mr. Kamoshida actually confessed the other day, if you think about it..."

"Must be those Phantom Thieves of Hearts' doing... But how did they actually turn him good? Did they threaten, or blackmail him, or what? From their style, it didn't look like they're gonna do it by calling the police. Rather, judging by their name alone the police would arrest them first..."

"I don't know... What I do know is that whoever they are, they're most likely related to our school in a way or two."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, I asked some of my friends from other schools and they all said they didn't know anything..."

"I see. Well, you do have a point there... Plus, not many people actually know the real issue outside of the volleyball team, let alone outside the school... Us, the newspaper club member, and..." Konoe tried to recall everyone with knowledge of at least part of the problem. "Oh yeah, those second-years who were facing expulsion before it was revoked."

"Still, however they did it, they succeeded. Even though the way it impacted Mr. Kamoshida was too good to be true... Our plan was to report getting beaten to the police, but they one-upped us by making him confess in front of everyone." Tony chuckled.

"Regardless, the school might be his bitch, but not the police. There's no way he's getting out of that one." Konoe took a sip of his coffee then leaned forward, resting an arm on the table. "Could it be that those second-years are the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?"

"So what if they are?"

"No, nothing. It's just...whoever they are, they're walking on a very thin line. How that letter was written, plus what they call themselves... They're treading a very little area between vigilantes and criminals." Konoe took out his phone and showed a website to his two friends. "Plus there's this Phantom Aficionado Website thing... "

"Let me see..." Tony also took out his phone and checked the site. "Oh... Whoever did this really took their time. There's even a poll and a submission tab."

"Man, look at these submissions... Just what are these guys even writing? Lots of them are just small complaints over their own issues..." Konoe read through all of the messages. "They're treating it like some sort of help line..."

"Well, those guys certainly have faith in them... But I doubt they'd actually tackle even the smallest of issues." Tony put down his phone. "If I were them, I'd prioritize something that actually affect a lot of people at once, like Mr. Kamoshida's problem..."

Meanwhile, Minato was staring at the poll popping up on the main page of the site.

"Do you believe in the **Phantom Thieves**?"

At the moment, only around six to seven percent of voters said yes. There were also comments from fellow respondents regarding the poll.

"'of hearts?' What tryhards"

"I've been waiting for this!"

"Who made this site? Ridic"

"even kids aren't that dumb"

"gtfo with that shit LOL"

"sauce plz"

Normally, people other than those who were affected by what happened during the Kamoshida debacle wouldn't believe in it, but not Minato. He had seen them and witnessed them before. At least to him, they're real. He also took into account of what Konoe were saying that they're walking on a very thin line between vigilantism and downright criminality and agreed with him. No one knew what these Phantom Thieves were going to do next.

However, Minato dismissed the possibility of it being a one-off thing. To him, being a Persona-user came with a grand purpose, stemming from his own experience. The question was what would be the Phantom Thieves'. His? Help the new Wild Card without anyone knowing, and reclaim the Velvet Room. He didn't fail to acknowledge that his current purpose wasn't less dangerous than his previous one, which he literally died for.

For now, Minato ignored the poll. He believed in them, but he's yet to see what their true purpose was.

"But honestly, I could be crying in the stadium right now instead of sitting here, you know... Man, tomorrow's the last day of Golden Week and I have to work..." This time Konoe changed the subject.

"Work? Dude, I thought you're free for the whole Golden Week."

"Well, it's Golden Week after all, the hotel's gonna be busy. Especially in the restaurant."

"Well, to stop you from looking so dejected, why don't we all work together at your place?"

"Wait, what? You're actually gonna work for once?"

"Stop saying it like I'm a lazy dude. I'm broke after using up my allowance to replace the camera... Besides, working at your place doesn't seem like a bad idea."

"Hmm..." Konoe checked his phone, looking to text someone. "The manager did say he could use more personnel... Want me to hook you up?"

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me." Tony looked at Minato. "How about it, Yuki? Wanna join us?"

"..." Minato rested his chin on his fingers, thinking about taking up Tony's offer. He had money, but he didn't plan on lazing about for the whole holiday. "Sure..."

"You want in too, Yuki?" Konoe looked at Minato. "Alright, then... I'll hook you guys up."

After a couple minutes of chatting, the manager had allowed Konoe to bring Tony and Minato along for tomorrow. "Alright. You two are in for tomorrow... Come to the hotel before lunchtime. I'll help you guys set up. It's gonna be a busy service tomorrow!"

"Why thanks, dude."

Konoe smiled, then asked for the time. "By the way, what time is it?"

Tony looked at his watch. "Quarter past two. Why?"

"Damn, we gotta finish this quickly! I promised my little brother I'd go home before it's dark!"

They put their head down and got to work on the assignment while Konoe was getting even deader inside as he kept hearing his favorite team getting torched for the rest of the game. As the lopsided game finished with a 11-1 win for the Moonlight, they also finished their assignment. They could finally relax as they watched the postgame review. After having a little chat over the assignment and the next day's part-time job, the three of them parted ways. Konoe and Tony walked back to the station while Minato returned to his apartment.

Thursday. May 5th, 2017.

"So good!"

"No wonder Lady Ann chose this place..."

"Of course it's good... This is a famous place, after all..."

Akira along with Morgana, Ryuji, and Ann were stuffing their face to celebrate taking down Kamoshida and escaping expulsion. With the budget they had after Akira sold the medal for thirty thousand Yen, they wanted to go all out with celebrating and Ann was in charge with picking up the location. She ended up choosing a fancy hotel restaurant which held a special event in which they could eat anything in the buffet at a discounted price for an hour. Ryuji was sitting in front of all the meat he could get, Ann was eating desserts without concerning her own waistline, while Akira and Morgana hadn't gotten themselves anything to eat besides beans courtesy of Ryuji.

"Oh yeah, I heard the police are coming to interview some people at school." Said Ann.

Ryuji and Morgana showed concerns in their face. For the former, he was threatened with expulsion during the whole debacle along with Akira. Not to mention the fallout he had in the past.

"That's troublesome..."

"Our names are gonna come up for sure. People spreadin' all sorts of rumors about us and Kamoshida..." Ryuji was worried. And yet, there was a bright side in what had transpired. "But we got 'em pumped up! I keep hearin' stuff like 'The Phantom Thieves really stole his heart!'. I think most people don't believe it, but some of them actually seem grateful."

"You're right..." Akira smiled. "The volleyball club seem to benefit the most out of all this."

Ryuji took his phone out, opened a web page, and showed it to everyone. "Look at this."

Everyone leaned towards the phone screen.

"The Phantom Aficionado Website?" Ann read the header of the page, then the comments.

"Well done, Phantom Thieves"

"Now I can keep going too"

"Thank you for giving us hope"

"Pretty cool huh?" Ryuji put his phone down.

"I was desperate to deal with my own problems, but seeing people saying all this feels...strange." Ann described how she felt.

"Yeah..." Ryuji concurred. He turned to Akira and asked something. "Hey, what do we do now?"

"Now? We eat."

* * *

"Tony, man, you've been staring at the guys on that particular table very intently... What's with them?" Konoe looked at Tony as they alongside Minato were chilling and looked around the hotel restaurant as they're taking a break.

"Can't really not look when you have them sticking out like a sore thumb in between all those well-mannered people..." Tony replied

Konoe looked to the particular table Tony talked about. He could do nothing but concur after looking. But it really wasn't their place to pry, so he asked him again. "You got a problem with them coming here?"

"...Can't they at least look and act the part? They're spending thousands of Yen eating here and there they are acting like it's a diner."

"Well, well, it's not like they didn't pay... Let them enjoy it." Konoe chuckled. "Yuki, what do you think?"

"I don't care..." Minato left to clean a table.

"I had a feeling he'd say that..." Konoe sweatdropped, then spoke to Tony. "Didn't know that kinda stuff can irritate you so much..."

"Dude, they just look out of place. They should at least dress decently... Plus they're making so much noise and eat like there's no tomorrow. And there's a cat eating with them."

"I...can't disagree with you on that one... But they'll be gone in the next hour or so... Don't worry about it. By the way, one of them looks like Takamaki-san..."

"That's because it is...? Look at her. In fact, dude, look at them. Don't tell me you don't know at least two of them."

"Hmm..." Konoe looked intently the party. He assumed one of them was Takamaki, which turned out to be true. He also was able to make out who she was with. "Oh, it is Takamaki-san... The other two are...Sakamoto-kun, and Kurusu-kun, right? That second-year transfer student..."

"Yeah... Well, not that it's my business." Tony shrugged and wiped his nose. "Come on, let's get back to work. I feel bad seeing Yuki work alone."

"Yeah... Let's..."

* * *

After mowing down all the food in front of them, Akira, Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana were sitting in front of the many empty plates which had all kinds of food earlier. They went ham at eating that Ryuji had to go for a little bathroom break since he wasn't feeling too good. After that, though, he felt a little better. As they chatted along after they return to the table, Ryuji came to a revelation.

"You want to continue as the Phantom Thieves?" Ann was surprised.

"...I've been thinkin'. We put a lot of work into changin' Kamoshida's heart, but nobody believes in the Phantom Thieves. Plus...those guys who had no other choice but to just deal with it are thankin' us. Us, of all people."

"You mean the Phan-Site, Ryuji?" Akira knew what Ryuji meant. Admittedly, seeing people thanking them gave him a good feeling.

"I... I agree. If we ignore people who are in trouble, I'd go back to being the same as I was before...!" Ann also concurred, followed by Morgana. "Well, that's true."

"You're under my tutelage. There's nothing we can't accomplish as the Phantom Thieves!" Morgana was suddenly fired up.

"Shouldn't we be able to help 'em out?"

Akira didn't even think of such a possibility at first. But it didn't go past him that he might be able to help people out with his powers. He had a gut feeling that it wouldn't just be a one-off thing.

"But... That means we'll have to fight Shadows again, doesn't it?" Ann asked. She seemed a little hesitant.

"Indeed. That can't be avoided."

"Eh, I'm sure we'll manage. Right, Akira?"

"Yeah... I want to help people with this power of ours. It feels good to be of good use." Akira nodded while playing with his bangs.

"Heh... Even if you guys are still just fledglings, this means we're an actual organization now."

"Fledglings? Haha, that's actually pretty fitting for us." Ann leaned back on her chair. They might have only realized it then, but they were just a band of misfits in the first place and it brought them together.

"All right, it's settled! We're gonna catch all this shitty adults by surprise, and make ourselves known to the world!"

"Ryuji, not so loud..."

"Are you OK being our leader?"

"Of course. Why not?"

"No objections here! I can't handle all that responsibility stuff."

"Well, since Lady Ann made the recommendation, I'll allow it."

"Should we decide on a name? I just went with Phantom Thieves of Hearts last time, but don't you think a real name would be cooler?"

Ann and Morgana gave some ridiculous suggestions which were all turned down by Ryuji. So as the leader, Akira stepped in to solve the rather trivial issue.

"Phantom Thieves of Hearts is good enough, in my opinion. I wouldn't have it any other way..."

"Alright. We goin' with that."

Everyone agreed in unison. Ryuji had picked a good name beforehand so there was no point in changing anything.

"Well now that the name's set, who's our next target?"

"There are tons of rotten adults and all... Why not just stick to targeting big names?"

"Hmm... Like a celebrity, or a CEO?" Akira asked.

"Yeah, something along those lines. If we go after some bigwig, it's gonna get on the news, right? Don't you think more people would believe in us if we did that?"

"That's not a bad idea...coming from you, Ryuji," Morgana complimented, yet at the same time still condescending Ryuji.

"True. If we become better known...we might be able to give courage to more people. I don't really like the idea of just picking someone out of the blue though."

"Let's narrow it down to someone we can all agree on then."

"Hm, so we need a bigwig we decide on unanimously."

"I like that unanimous decision part! It's like we're making some kind of pact!"

"Now then, this is the official formation of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts!"

Ann suddenly remembered something completely out of topic. "Oh no! Our time for the buffet ran out..."

"I guess we'll just have to talk more tomorrow..."

Seeing that their time was up they got up and left.

* * *

Konoe, Tony, and Minato's shift was finally over just before it got dark. They had changed to their casual outfits and went to see the manager before leaving.

"Alright, good job, everyone. Here's your pay." Said the manager as he gave Tony and Minato an envelope each since they're just working as one-off part-timers.

"Thank you..." Said Tony and Minato in unison.

After bidding their farewell to the manager, they stopped at a cafe in the nearby subway station to talk.

"So... How was it?"

"It was nice... No complaints there. Plus we got some of the food served at the buffet, which is a win for me. The pay's good, too. I might consider working there again if they need more personnel."

"Yeah, it was nice..."

"Next week is the midterms, right? I heard math is gonna be pretty scary." Konoe looked at the calendar in his phone.

"Meh, I can handle it. How about you, Yuki?"

"I think I'll be fine..."

"Well, well..." Konoe chuckled. "If you guys ever not feel like studying alone, we can get together again like yesterday..."

"Sounds like a good idea, as long as it went as well as yesterday, too."

"I think Yuki putting his head down for the whole thing kinda helped too... Usually we ended up goofing around and making little progress in studying..."

"True that..."

After finishing their drinks, they parted ways as the three of them were taking different lines. For Minato, it was nice to be out and working instead of just staying at home doing nothing. He hadn't planned on going to Mementos again, but he wanted to go visit the Velvet Room before the midterms, just to give the Velvet Siblings a heads-up. He took a bath, had dinner, and went straight to bed as soon as he stepped foot in his apartment.


	9. The Crust of an Artist's Case

Tuesday, May 10th, 2017.

Before the exams, Minato made a visit to the Velvet Room, much to Elizabeth's delight. He shared the information regarding the new wild card and the castle he stumbled upon while following him and his friends. The Velvet Siblings were actually surprised that Minato was able to find his most recent counterpart very quickly, to which Minato explained the lack of subtlety on behalf of the new wild card and his friends contributed in his success. He also went through with describing the wild card's background, which matched Margaret's description. Regarding the castle, he explained every little details of his brief visit. From the very meticulous design, the fixed layout, the decorations, the traps, the obstacles, and its ruler.

Before he could get into the details about the ruler of the castle, Theo asked whether he had been abiding the conditions mentioned at the start. Minato answered by describing the fight between the Phantom Thieves and the ruler of the castle and how he was able to tip the scales in the former's favour to prove that he didn't inflict any more disadvantages. Margaret commended him for being able to get around the rather difficult predicament while staying hidden as a non-factor in the battle. She even went as far as saying it's to be expected of someone with Minato's caliber. Minato, being the realist that he was, said he still needed to adjust if he's to complete the assignment he'd been given.

However, he didn't forget to share his worries over the Phantom Thieves. He knew he had long ways to go before he knew how to fully perceive them but their methods of "changing hearts" could easily be abused as a mean to their own agenda, which the three Velvet Siblings concurred. Should that kind of power fall in the wrong hands, it could lead to ruin for humanity, according to Elizabeth's perception. Despite the early concerns, they asked Minato to stay within the parameters and not interject in any way until they knew more about the Phantom Thieves' activity. Not to mention their general lack of subtlety might prove to be their own downfall. After sounding his concerns, he concluded the explanation, and proceeded to chat with Elizabeth.

"Has anything weird happened around here?" He lead Elizabeth to sit together in the bar which Margaret had set up.

"If by 'weird', you mean Erebus reappearing, the answer is no..."

"Erebus?" He recalled being yanked around once by something when he was attached to the golden all-seeing door visible from the Velvet Room's window.

"Erebus is a manifestation of humanity's wish for their own death. Unlike other manifestations out there, Erebus cannot truly be put away as death is a constant part of humanity, as is life. Should it ever touch Nyx, humanity will meet their demise, something that you have been preventing from happening by creating the Great Seal."

"I see... So you're the one keeping it at bay all these years?"

"Yes, indeed I am... As much as I devote myself in the constant struggle to set you free, I also don't want to see humanity facing their own demise. That much would disappoint my siblings' master even though they weren't supposed to interfere."

Minato suddenly remembered Igor, and Elizabeth's decision to resign from her position as a Velvet Room attendant. He had mixed feelings over her actions. At one side, he was relieved to know that she truly cared and even went so far in order to lessen his burden. On the other hand, he knew Igor probably didn't take it too well, knowing that she decided to selfishly interfere a guest's fate. Both were understandable enough feelings. From the way Elizabeth addressed Igor, he knew she wasn't going to resume her position very soon, if ever. He decided to not pursue the topic even further for the time being and appreciate her company.

Elizabeth was deep in her own thoughts and Minato became curious.

"What's on your mind?"

"Oh, it's nothing..." Elizabeth skirted her thoughts aside, although it didn't work. She decided to be very blunt about it. "Do you remember when you used to guide me on my ventures to the outside world...from the most trivial to the most central part of your life?"

Minato knew she was talking about the date requests from back in the day. "Yeah... You wanna do it all over again?"

"I would gladly accept it, but I'm aware that my presence in the outside world at this time can possibly put you under your own disadvantages. Nevertheless, I look forward to venturing the outside world by your side again, when conditions permit us to." Elizabeth answered.

It made Minato think. The Velvet Room attendants all wore such fancy clothing clad in blue and that they wouldn't go unnoticed in the outside world. He knew that much because people used to stare at Elizabeth back in Iwatodai. At one point back in Gekkoukan High, him taking Elizabeth there became a hot topic for several days, even though there weren't many witnesses since he did it after school. One day, when Junpei and Ryoji asked about it, he tried his hardest to keep Elizabeth's identity a secret, saying that she's neither a student nor she was in the working class and that she's a foreigner who just wanted to see the school life in Japan. He appreciated her concerns, adding to the fact that the new wild card might recognize her since according to Margaret, all her siblings share the same characteristics, including the new wild card's attendant.

"I get it, Elizabeth. I'm also looking forward to it..." Minato smiled. "Tokyo is much bigger than Iwatodai, there are a lot more places to see and a lot more things to do. Five dates might not be enough to cover it all..." He giggled.

Elizabeth also giggled back at him. It felt reassuring for her to have such an understanding fellow as a partner. However, she had one more information to share. "I sense a change in Mementos."

"A change?"

"Yes, a change of similar variety found in Tartarus."

Minato instantly clicked with the information. A barrier was blocking him from progressing further into Mementos the last time round. The change Elizabeth mentioned most likely meant the barrier had been lifted and that meant he could finally progress further.

"Places like the castle you ventured to might also exist in other parts of the world. Please keep this information in mind." Margaret, who was tasting her own drink, interjected.

"I see. Thanks for the info..."

Regarding taking Elizabeth out on a date, he also had one more destination in mind other than all the spots in Tokyo. However, it would require a train ride out of town to get to. With that, he decided to conclude his visit and went home to prepare for the upcoming midterm exams.

Sunday. May 15th, 2017. 

To celebrate the end of exams, Akira, Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann were at downtown Shibuya to go to an art exhibition after a man their age, an artist prodigy from Kosei High, named Yusuke Kitagawa, invited them, although he was acting rather hostile towards the guys, especially Ryuji for unknown reasons. Ryuji didn't really feel like going at first but since the name of the man running the art exhibition, Ichiryusai Madarame, showed up in the Phan-Site and mentioned by someone they encountered in Mementos, they decided it wouldn't harm them to go and have a look. Besides, it would be a waste to not go with the free tickets they got. Morgana added the ability to identify an original was also part of a Phantom Thief's trait, all the more reason to go and appreciate some fine arts on a Sunday.

"You came!" Yusuke gleefully greeted Ann as they arrived at the entrance.

"Um...yeah. Hello..." Ann replied.

"You really came..." Yusuke wasn't happy with her being accompanied by the same two people who got in his way the day before.

"What'd you expect when you left us those tickets?" Ryuji crossed his arms.

"Make sure you don't get in the way of the other visitors." Yusuke and Ryuji locked gazes at each other before the former took Ann inside for a personal tour of the exhibition. "Come now. I'll show you around. I'd like to speak more about the picture I'd like to draw too."

"Well, see you guys later." She waved her hand at her two bodyguards and went inside.

"Will Lady Ann be all right!? What if he drags her behind some paintings and tries something funny?" Morgana looked really worried.

Akira sweatdropped while Ryuji reprimanded the cat. "I told you not to come out!"

"Are we really gonna 'appreciate' the fine arts? Can't we just go home?"

"Let's get in. We need to learn about Madarame." Akira walked into the building.

"I guess we should do a quick pass through it once..." It couldn't be helped, so Ryuji followed in tow. "Uh, which way are we supposed to start?"

After touring around the exhibition once, they caught vision of the old man who picked up Yusuke near Shujin Academy the day before.

"It's that old man from the other day. He's Madarame, right?"

They could hear the old man being interviewed from the distance.

"We continue to be truly surprised by your imagination. You have such expansive styles, it's hard to believe that it all stems from one person... Where in the world does all the inspiration come from?"

"Well, it is rather difficult to put into words... They naturally well up from within my heart like bubbles rising one after another in a spring."

"Naturally, you say?"

Akira and Ryuji decided to stand closer to eavesdrop.

"What's important is to distance oneself from worldly desires such as money and fame. My atelier is a modest shack, but it is more than enough to pursue true beauty."

"...A shack?" Ryuji processed what he just heard.

"I see... So the act of emptying one's mind gives rise to inner beauty. Still, to think we could hear the word 'shack' coming from the great artist Madarame."

"You would understand if you saw it. Hahahaha..."

Before Ryuji could speak up again, a sea of visitors suddenly gathered around Madarame, squeezing Akira and Ryuji in the crowd. The exhibition suddenly turned into a mosh pit. With that, they decided to squeeze their way out of the building.

"Hey, stop pushin'...! There's way too many people!"

"I'm getting crushed..."

"Anyways, we gotta head for the exit! Don't die on us, all right?"

On the other side of the exhibition, Ann was admiring the many works displayed. Yusuke was briefly interrupted by his Sensei, but it wasn't much of a big deal. They moved on to a painting in the corner of the room which Ann wanted to look at since she came to the exhibition.

"Oh, this is it - the painting I wanted to see in person."

"...This one?"

"I guess it's the painter's anger? I'm not sure, but I sense this...strong frustration from it. To think such a cheerful and gentlemanly person could make such a piece..."

"..." Yusuke clenched his chest.

"Something wrong?"

"Don't mind me." He shrugged it off. "There are better pieces than...this one. Come now, this way!" He lead Ann away from the painting even though she wasn't done admiring it.

"H-Hey...!"

Meanwhile, Ryuji had another moment of revelation after retreating to the station walkway. He pulled out his phone and showed Akira the Phan-Site. Ann showed up shortly after, and was immediately thrust into the conversation.

"This post might be about Madarame."

"What's it's say?"

"A master of the Japanese arts is plagiarizing his pupil's work. Only his public face is shown on TV."

"Plagiarizing?"

"I didn't think much of it when I first saw it, but hearing 'shack' and 'Madarame' triggered it." Ryuji explained. "His treatment of the pupils who live with him is awful. He teaches nothing and bosses them around. He treats them inhumanely, as if disciplining a dog..."

"Abuse on top of plagiarism, hm...?"

"If this is real, it'll be a huge scandal."

"I wonder if Kitagawa-kun posted this. I mean, he IS a pupil of his."

"Who knows? It's anonymous and all..."

"In that case, it's possible the Madarame we heard about in Mementos is referring to the same one."

"A man like that doing such a thing...?" Ann couldn't believe what she's hearing. "I wonder if we can ask that Shadow from earlier about this. Oh, actually, we just need to talk to him in reality." Ann referred to Shadow Nakanohara they defeated in Mementos the week before.

"And how do we go about that? Are we gonna explain it all, startin' with Mementos?" Ryuji wondered.

"Besides, if we make a move out in the open, there's the possibilty that Madarame will find out." Morgana added.

"Oh... Yeah... Right."

"Hey, what do you think about Madarame? Doesn't he seem suspicious?" Ryuji asked Akira.

"He does, but I can't be sure just yet..." Akira voiced his thoughts.

"I know, right? This all fits way too well to be a coincidence. If this post is legit, ain't this the kinda target we've been waitin' for?"

"Well, yeah, but... Is it really true?" Ann was hesitant.

They decided to proceed with snooping around, looking to get dirt on Madarame. Ann managed to get Yusuke's contact and the address to his place. Ryuji wanted it done as soon as possible, so they agreed on going to Yusuke's place the next day after school.

Monday. May 16th, 2017. 

Minato was walking past Shibuya's Central Square alongside Konoe and Tony as they decided they wanted to do a group project at the latter's house which was located in a residential area nearby.

"Tony, you sure it's fine we're doing this at your place?"

"Well, no one's home at the moment so I could use some company... Besides, I owe you a rematch..."

"Ohh, I knew you had some ulterior motives..."

Minutes later, they arrived at the area where Tony's house was located. As they walked through, Konoe noticed a rather old-looking house which stood out among the rest of the neighborhood.

"Geez, that house just looks out of place compared to everything else around here... Is it abandoned?"

"It might look like that from the outside, but that's actually Ichiryusai Madarame's house."

"Ichiryusai Madarame? You mean the artist who's holding an exhibition downtown?"

"Yeah, him. Something the matter, dude?"

"Well, I guess an already decorated artist like him appreciates the simplicity of living in a shack if that helps with keeping himself grounded and away from distractions..."

"'Shack'? Well, that's one way to put it. But still, he's actually known as a pretty nice person around here."

"Oh yeah, I heard he's taken in a lot of aspiring artists who wished to be under his tutelage..."

"That's true. He's been doing that for God knows how long... He wanted to pass down all he knew so much so that he provided shelter for them. It's like he's making his own art school. Although, it seemed like all those people he took in never really flourished as artists as soon as they're no longer under his tutelage which is weird."

"That's kinda understandable. The world of arts is unforgiving. It's very competitive with a lot of artists looking to show their own qualities which vastly differ from one to another. After all, you can't necessarily play the numbers game with arts, it's all in the eyes of the beholder. Maybe they're just struggling to keep up with the established artists? I mean, Madarame himself is still kicking..."

"Well, I'm more of a numbers guy, so being an artist isn't in my career options..."

Suddenly, Minato spotted something in the corner of his vision while walking along. He looked around and found a group of who looked like Shujin students walking up to Madarame's place. He stopped for a second to take a look and was able to identify them as the frizzy-haired boy and his companions. However, he decided to leave them be for the time being and continued walking in tow to Tony's house.

As they walked along, he pulled out his phone to open the Phantom Aficionado Website and surely enough he found a post which contained information of alleged plagiarism done by none other than Ichiryusai Madarame. After reading the post, he assumed the frizzy-haired boy and his companions probably stopped by the shack for a Phantom Thieves agenda. The urge to go tail them again was there, but he decided to control it in order to not get caught. He then made a mental note to go investigate the matter by himself when the Phantom Thieves weren't around. He also didn't deny the possibility of discovering another one of the worlds separate from Mementos associated with Madarame. Speaking of Mementos, he hadn't gone there for quite some time, so resuming the exploration was added to the week's schedule.

* * *

"Those two...seem like nice guys, don't they?"

Akira, Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana were standing across the street by Yusuke's place, which was indeed a shack. It's more precisely Madarame's place but Yusuke had been living there since he was taken in by the artist himself. They had failed to obtain any information regarding Madarame's act of plagiarism as Yusuke seemed to be defending him. Even so, they didn't fail to notice Yusuke stuttering for a brief moment while trying to get any information, as if something struck a chord. For them, it felt like the Kamoshida case all over again, except it's not as personal to the four of them.

"Maybe the Madarame we heard about in Mementos is a different person."

"Man, right when we thought we found a new target, too..."

They were feeling desperate. They were starting to doubt if the Madarame they read in the Phan-Site was indeed the Madarame they're after. Luckily, Morgana was on the case and reminded them of something.

"How's the Meta-Nav?"

Surely enough, when Akira opened the app, it reacted.

"Hey, the app..."

"Was it picking up our conversation...? This display...it means that Madarame has a Palace too, right!?" Ann couldn't believe it for a second, skirting the fact that the creepy app somehow picked up on their conversation. "But why!?"

"'Madarame', 'plagiarism', and then 'shack', huh? These seem to be the keywords." Morgana frowned.

"For real though, what the hell's goin' on!? Does an old man like him really have a Palace?" Ryuji was also wondering about that.

"The app reacted. The proof is there..." Akira cut in.

"We have the person's name and the location. All that's left is the 'what' that Madarame mistakes this shack for to enter his Palace."

"You mean like how Kamoshida thought the school was his castle?"

"That's right." Morgana nodded. "Let's try saying some things. They can be random guesses."

"It's a bit sudden, though..." Ryuji was thinking of a fitting keyword.

"Why don't we start with 'castle'?" Ann started giving out ideas.

"No candidates found."

"It'd be too convenient if it's actually a castle, Ann."

"Then, what about 'prison'?" Ryuji was next

Akira almost blurted out laughing. The 'prison' in question was the form of his Velvet Room.

"No candidates found."

"Ugh, what a pain!" Ryuji became frustrated and decided to pepper the app with randomness. "'Jail'! 'Warehouse'! And 'guidance counselin' office'! Might as well add 'farm'!"

"No candidates found."

"Goddammit!" Ryuji hung his head. "Not a single hit...?"

"...Should we come back another time?" Morgana began doubting it too.

"Let's think for a second..." However, Akira wasn't going to give up quickly.

"A building that's related to artists... If we think from there, what would it be?"

There's only one word Akira had in mind. "A museum, then."

It's a hit. "Beginning navigation."

"Whoa, really!?"

The environment around them transformed. The sky became dark, the shack across the street turned into a massive, gaudy-looking museum. There were cars parked around, and people waiting in line to get inside.

"Hey, when did you activate the Nav!? You surprised me!" Morgana was startled at his sudden change of form.

"Didn't have much of a choice. I think we just happened to get it right."

They inspected around the place as they contemplate on whether they should go in or not. They could see a huge line of people waiting to get into the museum, but no one seemed to notice them. They wondered why Madarame's Palace took form of a museum since it's not necessarily related to plagiarism. Then again, a castle and perverse desires don't seem to mix on the outside. They decided they'd better go in and have a little look instead of just standing in the parking lot.

"That aside... Ain't a museum a must for phantom thieves!?" Something clicked in Ryuji's head.

"If you think of it that way... Yeah, it's fitting... But there are probably traps, too." Akira played with his bangs.

"Yeah. All those old man's fans were super strong and all... By the way, we're goin' in, right? Are we gonna have to wait in that gigantic line?"

"Don't be stupid. We're not going in the front door."

"But there's a high wall around the building..."

"We'll just have to find our way up over it then. In any case, let's get going!"

They were able to climb over the wall after they found a truck which got them high enough to go over the lowest part of the wall, which lead them to the museum courtyard. They easily walked past since no guards were around, climbed up, jumped over some gaps, and found themselves standing near an open skylight. It seemed to be a pretty high drop, but Morgana came prepared. He took out a rope to help everyone descend into the museum and they immediately found themselves inside the special exhibition room.

The museum looked like it had been closed for the day, since it was quiet and most of the doors were locked. In the special exhibition room, they could see paintings which look suspiciously distorted. They decided to check out some of them, which all took form of portraits of different people instead on actual artistic works. Surely enough, information of those portrayed were in the place of what should've been the description of each paintings.

"Look at this one..."

"This one has a full name..."

"Another... This's got the name and age on the plaque..."

"I feel like these paintings are all staring at us..."

"Hey, this one has a name too. Is this painting the same deal as the rest?"

"It's kinda creepy seein' all these people on the walls..."

After looking at enough paintings, they stopped for a little break.

"Hey, this doesn't make any sense... Madarame's famous for having a variety of art styles... But all the portraits on display here look the same... This is way different from what was at the-" Ann wondered.

"Wait a sec! Ain't that the guy we saw in Mementos? The one who was shit-talkin' Madarame..." Ryuji interjected.

Surely enough, he was right. It's the portrait of Natsuhiko Nakanohara, the first person they encountered in Mementos.

"Dude, I don't get it! Why's there a paintin' of him in here!? And why's his name written under it!?" He added.

"You're right... Doesn't art pieces usually have like, the title or the artist's name?" Ann followed.

"Hm... This is quite the mystery..." Morgana frowned.

They continued to look around as they wondered how big the room was. Just as they're about to reach the museum's reception desk, they found another painting portraying someone familiar.

"What? No way!" Ann was in disbelief.

"That definitely looks familiar..." Akira walked closer to the painting.

"Hey, isn't this a painting of that guy?"

"It says 'Yusuke Kitagawa'. There's no mistaking it."

"Huh? Wait a second... What do you think these paintings are...?"

"Hmm..." Akira put his chin on his fingers. "Let's see... Nakanohara's portrait is here, and Yusuke is currently living with Madarame... I think these are his pupils."

"I think you're right." Ann concurred.

"For real!? All of 'em? But it was only Yusuke when we went to his place before..."

"This must include former pupils as well. Only one remains now... Taking into account what that Nakanohara guy said earlier, things are getting clearer." Morgana pondered. "All right, let's keep investigating. We need something to further confirm our deductions."

Everyone nodded and they continued towards the reception desk. There, they could see a couple of chests, which Akira quickly opened, and a rack with pamphlets which contained the map of the museum. Akira took one of the pamphlets as it should provide a good reference. However, as Ann pointed out, the map only showed one half of the museum, which meant there might be another one of those maps.

They eventually reached a massive room in which golden banners were hung all around a gigantic, golden sculpture. The title of the sculpture said "The Infinite Spring". Its description read "A conglomerate work of art that the great director Madarame created with his own funds. These individuals must offer their ideas to the director for the rest of their lives. Those who cannot do so have no worth living!". Before they stumbled across the piece, they suspected something was wrong with Madarame, but the sculpture's description had confirmed it.

"Why's Yusuke keepin' quiet about this? He's got no reason to cover this up!" Ryuji had a point.

"He did say that he owes Madarame his life for being taken in..." Ann basically deduced Yusuke might be indebted to Madarame that he wouldn't dare turning against him.

"But still...!"

Ann brought up something important from the visit to the exhibition the day before. "I praised one of the pieces on display. But...Kitagawa-kun acted strange. Maybe that piece was plagiarized too..."

"What's the call? Ain't this enough to target Madarame!?" Ryuji turned to Akira.

"I think this is enough, but I'd like to hear what you guys think, too." Akira answered.

"We should confirm these facts with Yusuke first." Said Morgana.

"Yeah." Ann agreed.

"Confirm what though!?" Ryuji didn't understand the hold-up. If it's up to him, the whole thing would definitely be a green light right there and then.

"We should get solid evidence that such crimes actually took place." Morgana explained.

"What a pain in the ass..." Ryuji resigned.

"Besides, there's too much we don't know about Madarame yet."

"You're right... I'll try contacting Kitagawa-kun. I might be able to get the truth out of him if I accept his modeling offer." There's Ann with an idea.

"Wait, you're gonna do that!?" Morgana's eyes widened.

"A famous, renowned artist, huh? This might be tougher than Kamoshida. Well, we're just prep ourselves until we get confirmation from Yusuke. This is our first mission as real phantom thieves. We're gonna succeed no matter what!"

For the time being, they decided to leave the museum on a high morale. They had established a plan to pry out some information from Yusuke. All that mattered was whether he wanted to cooperate.


	10. The Artist's Realization

Tuesday. May 17th, 2017.

Minato initially wanted to go have a look at the whole thing with Madarame, but he could only do it when the Phantom Thieves weren't around. Unfortunately, that day wasn't one of them. He was chilling to check the surroundings to make sure no one saw him, including Tony who lived in the area. He also spotted a woman carrying a camera also snooping around near Madarame's house. Just as he was about to do anything, he spotted the frizzy-haired boy and his companions walking up to Madarame's house. With that, he decided to turn around and retreated to the station.

There were two things in Minato's agenda that week. One of them was investigating the Madarame case alone. The other was resuming the Mementos exploration. Since he couldn't do the first one, he decided to do the other.

Before he set off, he checked his equipment. For his close range weapon, he switched from his one-handed sword to a bus stop sign which he found lying around the neighborhood of his apartment. Back when he found it, he asked someone nearby whether he could take it, and he was allowed possession of it. The best thing about it was he didn't have to pay for it. As for his ranged weapon, the bow he first started out with was good enough. As for recovery items, he hadn't been using any since he got them from Theo. But that didn't stop him from carrying them just in case.

All boxes were ticked, but there was another thing he wanted to do before going down and dirty. He took off the school jacket and put on a hooded jacket. He also wore a mask to cover the lower part of his face. The reason for such a meticulous preparation was because he didn't want anyone to identify him. To complete the look, he clipped his bangs up, revealing his right eye.

After a bit of stretching, he opened the app, got down to the tracks, fired up his bike and he was on his way. As he approached the staircase leading down, he recalled about the change Elizabeth mentioned the week before and how similar it was in description compared to the one in Tartarus. He quickly went down to check it, and Elizabeth turned out to be right. The seemingly unmovable barrier was gone, revealing a staircase. When he got off, the head unit in his bike flashed, showing letters; "Aiyatsbus: Area 1" to further indicate the whole area being brand new on top of the layout being randomly generated. The area also looked slightly different, as the surroundings were colored rather differently. But all in all, it's still the same set of platforms and tracks.

Along the way, he picked up some items that might be tradeable. Tin clasps, thick parchments, thin coppers, all the like. The enemies he encountered, however, weren't so much of a challenge. They're the same ones he wiped the floor with back at the then non-existent castle. However, he decided to hold back, to see if he could talk them to cooperate with him.

At one instance, he was battling two Agathions. The first of them immediately succumbed to his arrow. A light tap with the bus stop sign on the second one put it on its ropes, even though he didn't manage to knock it down. What remotely surprised Minato was the Agathion begging for mercy in standing position.

"Wait! Please, lemme go!"

Minato thought of killing it, but he suddenly remembered that he needed to create more Personas. Thus, he decided to take the Agathion as a fusion material. Plus, it's rather cute, according to him. "Give me your strength, please."

The Agathion immediately agreed. "I'm saved...! You're surprisingly nice. Wait, what the- I think I remember something!"

Minato smiled behind his mask.

"You know. I'm not really a Shadow! I came from the humans' sea of souls! My real name's Agathion! You and I are the same, mister!"

The Agathion morphed into a colorless mask like Minato's and merged with it.

"I am thou, thou art I, indeed..." Minato chuckled.

With that, he moved on. He found another set of stairs leading to the area below and took it.

In the new area, he spotted something rather unusual. It looked like a portal. Minato decided to go through it, just to have a look. The portal took him to what looked like a fixed area. He stopped just by the barricade and spotted a figure, more specifically a figure wearing a Shujin uniform, which had a black aura emanating all over him. However, Minato decided to not step over the barrier, but instead leaned against it and examined the object standing in the area past the barricade.

"It's not my fault! It's theirs for standing up for themselves!" The figure spoke.

Upon closer inspection, the person didn't have the telltale signs of an actual human being. Aside from the emanating black aura, its voice was way too distorted and its eyes glowed yellow. What the figure said, however, attracted Minato's interest.

He recalled reading a post about the school bully in the Phantom Aficionado Website, and that the admin of the site had warned the bully, named Daisuke Takanashi, that the Phantom Thieves were coming for him. Minato deduced that the figure standing past the barricade was Daisuke Takanashi, in a way that reminded him of the Mr. Kamoshida he saw at the castle.

Minato decided to leave the figure be, since it didn't try to go past the barricade and attack him. He figured it's better if the actual Phantom Thieves of Hearts did the honors of dealing with it instead. He went through the portal again and was immediately back in the labyrinths.

He was immediately in a tight spot, however. A red-glowing Shadow was in the way of him and the intersection leading to the rest of the area. It didn't seem to be moving out of the way, so Minato had no choice but to fight. He readied his bow and aimed at it, hitting it square.

It turned into five Kodamas, yet another type he had never seen before. However, Minato decided to not waste time and began striking them down one by one with the bus stop sign. A jumping overhead two-handed strike defeated the first one in the middle. A swing to either sides defeated the next two. Before going further, Minato stepped back and toned down his attack, only lightly tapping the fourth one until it became stiff, but not dead, and summoned Orpheus to grill the fifth one into nothingness.

He was left with one Kodama, and he was looking to talk to it.

"W-wait, staahhp! Please, don't hurt me! I'm just a widdle child!"

Minato knew he had to take this one with him. "Please, lend me your strength."

The Kodama seemed to be cooperative. "Hey, let's talk! I gotta find out if you're a weird human or not! Oh, I wanted to ask you something. You ready?"

"Shoot..." Minato got into a relaxed stance.

"When you were little, what did you wanna be when you grow up?"

Minato honestly had never given that a thought, considering his circumstances. He tried to read the mood of the Kodama instead to come up with something. "A musician..."

"Oooh, that's admirable, mister. What kinda music do you listen to?"

"I listen to a variety of stuff..."

The Kodama didn't look too pleased with the answer. "Oh, so you just like listening to whatever it is you have, huh?" It's still open for talks, however. "...Hey, are you allowed to hit other people's kids like this? Maybe kids got spanked a long time ago, but people don't do that anymore, right?"

Minato scratched his chin. "Sorry for hitting you...and um, I honestly didn't know that..."

"Awww man. You're not very smart, are you, mister?" It chuckled. "Whoa, that's the same as me... Wait, I think I remember something!"

Minato knew that prompt. The negotiation had worked.

"You know, I'm not really a Shadow! I came from the humans' sea of souls! My real name's Kodama! You and I are the same, mister!"

Just like with Agathion, Kodama morphed into a mask and merged with Minato's.

Another battle over, another Persona obtained. He was getting the hang of talking to them, even though his skills were still a bit of a hit and miss.

Along the rest of the exploration, he found more tradeable items, and obtained two more Personas, one of which were new; Bicorn and Silky. However, he decided to not go further down than the third floor.

When he got out of Mementos, it's already getting dark out. He was hungry so he decided to grab some dinner downtown before returning home. He arrived at his apartment building quite late after stopping by the supermarket to get some groceries. Just as he was approaching his apartment, he ran into a twin-tailed woman wearing a maid uniform. The appearance of the woman might fool anyone, but the sleepiness written across her face wasn't.

The maid girl shuddered as she recognized the person she just bumped into. "Yuki-kun!?" Then she glanced down to see Minato carrying a bag of groceries. Seeing that they bumped into each other in an apartment building, she only had one guess in mind. "So you live here..."

Meanwhile, Minato looked a bit dumbfounded seeing one of his teachers wearing a maid uniform, who turned out to be Ms. Kawakami. He was about to ask a question but she interjected.

"Don't worry, I don't provide any explicit services, if that's what you're asking." Ms. Kawakami looked up, staring at Minato's eyes. "You better not go around spreading this to anyone at school, okay? Especially to your homeroom teacher!"

"I don't care."

"'I don't care'? Then you don't care if I intentionally fail your Japanese exam-"

Minato cut her off, realizing she might get the wrong idea. "Your job after school is none of my business. I won't say a single word."

"Oh, sorry... That was quite rude but you seem trustworthy..." Ms. Kawakami trailed back. "I can sense that you're a kind person... But you need to dial back at the rudeness." She curled her brows.

Awkward silence filled the apartment corridor as Minato wanted to walk to his room but Ms. Kawakami didn't want to move over. She seemed to be sizing him up. "Hmm... If you want, I, Becky, can offer you some basic cleaning services, meow!" She smirked.

"No need..." Minato sweatdropped at the acting Ms. Kawakami just did.

"Oh well... It won't do you any good if people find out you're using a maid service..." She put a hand on her hip and frowned. However, she had a point. In the meantime, she was done with her service that night and was waiting for her pickup to arrive. While waiting, she decided to have a little chat with Minato. "You're not embarrassed seeing a teacher dressed like this, doing a risque-sounding part-time job at night?"

Minato leaned against the wall. "You're overthinking it..."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm always aware that I might accidentally bump into an acquaintance, but never thought it'd be into a student..." Ms. Kawakami sighed and gave a little smile.

"In truth, I'm doing this because I need the money..." Ms. Kawakami opened up. She knew she could trust Minato, especially after he said that her maid work was none of his business. "I...wanted to take a job out of town. But I chose this because it's the closest one, I can simply change out right after school..."

Minato noticed the maid looking rather tired. A bit of depression also showed in her face when she told a bit of the story. Even so, he knew it wasn't really his place to pry. He couldn't pass on giving her a little encouragement, though. "You're doing a good job, Ma'am. It must be tough..."

"I know... Thanks..." She sighed, but then smiled. It was nice to hear an encouragement amidst the potential loathing she might receive if she got found out. She decided to switch on her teacher mode and wanted to check on him a little. "How's school since you were discharged from the hospital?"

Minato answered. "It's better than the sickbed..."

"I see... I'm glad you're at least feeling that way..." She was relieved. "By the way, about your exams, don't worry about it. From reading Ms. Chouno's expression, I can at least tell you seem to be doing well..." She followed with a smirk. "The results are going to be posted on Friday, you can check it then."

She pulled out her phone to check an incoming message, then put it back in her pocket. "Alright, my pickup's here. We have a class tomorrow, right? Better get prepared for it... See you at the class, Yuki-kun."

Minato didn't say a word and bowed at Ms. Kawakami as she walked away before he entered his apartment.

Wednesday. May 18th, 2017.

The other day, the Phantom Thieves came back to Madarame's place to see if they could pry some more information out of Yusuke. But since he wouldn't open up just like that, they decided to take advantage of the modeling offer he gave to Ann and inquire some information as they go. They hoped Yusuke would get friendlier by the time he finished so he could cooperate with them.

Unfortunately, that didn't go quite as planned. Yusuke couldn't get anything going during the few hours they had to wait to even be able to talk to him since he was too in-the-zone to interact with anything but the canvas. In the end, they tried to ask him again regarding the rumors surrounding his master, which he vehemently denied like how it was the first time. However, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the already aggravated Ryuji spouting all those rumors in Yusuke's face like he was falsely accusing Madarame, which almost caused the two of them to fight. In the end, Yusuke nearly reported the three of them to the police but ultimately decided to let it slide under the condition that Ann would keep modeling for him and that Akira and Ryuji must not accompany her again.

That wasn't all, as the ultimate catch was Ann must pose fully nude in order for it to work, to which Yusuke say that it's the only way for him to be able to put his heart and soul into it. That almost put Ryuji into another fit, but Akira and Ann stopped him. To him, there's no way they could talk their way into someone as thick-headed and as determined anymore. With that, they decided to leave.

That day, the Phantom Thieves investigated the museum again, and had managed to progress a little further past the golden sculpture where they left off. They found a safe room where they could regroup and take breaks, and an area fenced with laser beams. They didn't dare touching the lasers because they looked to be lethal as opposed to the ones they found in the exhibition room which only tripped the security alarms.

Morgana mentioned a door with a hefty lock attached to it when he scouted around Madarame's house the day before and related it to the area full of laser beams they encountered earlier. Ryuji didn't understand the connection, as always, but Morgana was quick to explain. According to him, they're going to have to remove the lasers by opening the locked door in the shack with Madarame watching. Having put it that way, everyone could see that there was a possibility of something hidden that Madarame wanted to keep away from everyone, including Yusuke. Succeeding in opening the door in front of Madarame would mean removing the lasers which barred them from progressing inside the museum. It had to be done that way, to the T.

Morgana volunteered to open the hefty lock, but he needed someone to be the bait. That's when Ryuji had the most devious look in his eyes.

"I guess the only way is...havin' you go nude."

"WHAT!?"

"Fancy you say that, Ryuji. I was just thinking the same thing."

"This isn't funny!"

"We're not sayin' you really should get naked."

"It's simply the best excuse for you to enter Madarame's house without raising suspicions... So we'd like to play the role of decoy, Lady Ann."

"This is way too sudden... I mean, I don't even know where that locked door is."

"Don't worry. I'll accompany you."

"But that's still technically only me... Worst comes to worst, what if I get found out...?"

"We can run into the Palace...or something."

"Is that really gonna work!? I mean you're not giving me much confidence in this plan!" Ann grew more hesitant, and rather aggravated. "Do I have to be the bait...?"

"There's no other way. Good luck, Ann."

"Why can't one of you guys go nude!?"

"That ain't what he wants..."

"Then make it so he does!"

Ann tried her best to talk her way out of it, but it looked like there was no other choice. She really had to get in there and model nude for Yusuke, whether she liked it or not.

"Fine, I'll do it! For justice!"

She gave the guys the hardest look they've ever been given as she said that. She's fully committed to it, and she wanted the guys to do the same. As much as she's aware of the kind of appeal she possessed, she was very adamant about not letting it escalate to her actually posing nude. After all, it's just part of a plan. They agreed to do it the next day.

Thursday. May 19th, 2017.

Minato just exited the school library after he had just finished studying and returned a book he borrowed the other day. Then he stood by a window to have a look at the weather outside. His intention was to go home, but it was raining and he forgot to bring his umbrella. Realizing that running through the rain had some unpleasant implications, he decided to wait for the rain to subside. With that, he decided to walk around the school for a bit. He stopped near an announcement board and just stood there to reminisce about the time when the weather knocked him out cold.

The rain, and his contemplation to try running for the station earlier, reminded him of a time when he decided to run through a typhoon back in Iwatodai. He had forgotten to bring an umbrella that day. He didn't need to quickly rush home, but it didn't look like the weather was letting up any moment soon. He was soon faced with a choice of either staying at the station or risking it since the station wasn't very far from the dorm. In the end, he picked the latter, and ended up drenched as he stepped into the carpets of the dorm lobby. He immediately sneezed, and diseases immediately swarmed him. He was diagnosed with a severe cold, which left him bunked in his bed throughout the course of the typhoon. Fortunately, all activities were called off because of the weather, including, unfortunately, Gekkoukan High's cultural festival. He was lucky to end up not missing school, but he missed just about everything that was going on in the dorm, including seeing the girls get frightened to hell just because of an animal sneaking up in the dorm's attic which turned out to be a squirrel. He did get a large serving of porridge as a "get well soon" gift.

As he was contemplating there, someone bumped into him and almost fell. He looked to his side to see a female student covering her face behind a magazine. The female student in question lowered the magazine to look at who she just bumped into. To Minato's surprise, it was Makoto.

"Oh, it's you, Yuki-kun..." She decided to lower the magazine completely. "I thought you've gone straight home like usual..."

"I didn't bring an umbrella." Minato explained.

"That's too bad..." Makoto caught him glancing at the magazine. "This? I was just reading it as I walked..."

"So you can read upside down?" He noticed she was using it upside down when they bumped.

"Wait, was it!?" Makoto looked embarrassed. She did notice the magazine upside down before Minato pointed it out. She groaned at her own mistake. She decided to come clean. "Fine... I was just hiding my face so I don't get spotted by a certain someone."

"A certain someone?" Minato wondered. Nonetheless, he might have a clue on who it might be.

"Yeah, it's just for a student council affair..." Makoto explained. "But it seems like he's gone home for today... I've been looking for him all day." She sighed.

Minato began putting two and two, and deducted that Makoto was probably going to stalk whoever she was looking for. Furthermore, knowing that she's the student council president would only mean it's important, with the most likely reason being it was related to what happened to Mr. Kamoshida. Having understood all that, Minato thought the only target that made sense was the new wild card or one of his companions. It made him curious about what she would do if in instance she was able to catch them on the act. Minato decided to not ask to avoid raising Makoto's suspicion, despite his curiosity. It seemed Minato was going to have another task at hand.

"Well, I'm about done here. I brought an umbrella with me, so why don't we go to the station together? This rain doesn't seem to be letting up soon..." Makoto offered. "You can get an umbrella once we're at the station..."

Minato couldn't refuse the offer, simply because he might be forced to leave the school building and wait somewhere else for the rain to subside when it's getting dark out. "Sure..."

* * *

The laser barrier in the museum had successfully been disabled for good. That meant they could go past it back and forth without worrying about being cut to pieces. It was thanks to an uncanny inter-realm coordination between Ann and Morgana who bought just enough time in the real world to have Madarame witness the locked door getting opened, and Akira and Ryuji who dared going past the security to disable the lasers on their own. Upon unlocking the door, Ann and Yusuke learned that the picture which aspired Yusuke to become an artist, "Sayuri" was not stolen and lost like how it had been told all along. Instead, it had been hidden behind a cover. When Yusuke saw it for the first time, he was adamant that it was indeed the real "Sayuri" among all other replicas found inside the locked room.

Madarame tried to lie his way out of it, but Ann didn't buy it while Yusuke still tried to process what was happening. Seeing the attempt to lie fail, Madarame decided to call the police to have Ann and Yusuke detained. But Ann decided to make a run for it alongside Morgana while Yusuke was forced to give chase in hopes of getting Ann to explain things.

It was then when Yusuke was accidentally pulled into the museum alongside Ann and Morgana. Everything around him was awfully overwhelming to take in. He even thought Ann was not feeling well, when in actuality he was struggling to take it all in inside the realm he just stumbled upon. When they showed him one of the exhibition halls containing a lot of portraits, he couldn't believe his eyes as he saw faces of a lot of people he knew were in them. He confirmed the Phantom Thieves' earlier deduction that the people in those frames were indeed Madarame's past pupils. And yet, he still didn't know why they were depicted as such in his master's heart. Ryuji didn't forget to let Yusuke know that his portrait was also found in there.

"...I'll tell you this alone, Yusuke. If you wish to succeed in this world, I'd advise you don't rise against me."

To top off that predicament, as they were making their escape, they were intercepted by a set of guards by the massive golden sculpture. Then, they're forced to listen to Madarame - more specifically his Shadow - spouting about everything Yusuke had never heard from the real Madarame before. It turned out Madarame had staged the whole situation regarding "Sayuri" for his own profit, saying it's a legitimate business transaction to boot. That broke Yusuke so much, he was left on his knees. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves were disgusted at that fact.

In the end, Yusuke had enough. All he thought about his master, the one that had sheltered him since he was little, was wrong. The fact that the pupils had been treated like livestock, him included, disgusted him. His aggravation and understanding of his master's true nature had come full circle. He stood up, a new sense of rebellion had been formed inside of him.

"How amusing... It seems the truth is stranger than fiction, hm...? I wanted to believe it wasn't true... I had clouded my vision for so long... My eyes were truly blind...blind, and unable to see the true self behind this horrible man...!"

A voice called to him from the inside.

_Have you finally come to your senses?_

"Ngh..." Yusuke grabbed his head, he began to spun around, trying to contain the surge of power.

__How foolishly you averted your eyes from the truth...! A deplorable imitaton indeed... Best you part from that aspect of yourself!_ _

Yusuke screamed and kneeled, grasping his fingers on the floor until they bleed.

_Let us now forge a contract... I am thou, thou art I... The world is filled with both beauty and vice... It's time you teach people which is which...!_

A white fox mask formed onto his face as he stood up. "Very well..." He majestically reached for the mask and took it off. "Come, Goemon!"

A figure wearing a flamboyant, yet traditional Japanese outfit carrying a massive pipe with an axeblade attached to the end of it appeared behind him. Meanwhile, Yusuke was adorned with a black high-collared puff-sleeved jumpsuit, white knee-high boots, and blue pair gloves. He was armed with a Japanese sword and an assault rifle.

"Strike, GOEMON! Giant Slice!"

Madarame had sent guards to kill them, and Yusuke was quick to act. He aimed the physical skill and the leader in the middle, which was an Ippon-Datara. He hit him critically square and hard, knocking it down.

"Next, Bufu!"

He decided to switch out his attack, and aimed the Ice spell at one of the Koppa Tengu. It turned out to be its weakness, knocking it down. Yusuke decided to dish out three Bufu in a row and knocked down the rest of the Koppa Tengu.

"Nice, the enemies are down!" Morgana was surprised in how quickly Yusuke adapted.

Soon, they surrounded their enemies and decided to go in for the kill. The five of them jumped in and managed to defeat the four Koppa Tengu, while the Ippon-Datara was still standing.

"Persona! Captain Kidd, Headbutt!"

Ryuji was next, capitalizing on the momentum. That resulted in another critical hit, knocking the Ippon-Datara down again. They decided talking to it was moot, and went in for the kill, finally defeating the Ippon-Datara.

Shadow Madarame was standing before Yusuke again, but he had no energy to give chase to him. He loathed himself for not having the strength to. However, Akira encouraged him. They carried Yusuke into the lobby of the museum where they could take a break.

"I'm no fool... Strange people have been coming by for years, and the plagiarism was an everyday affair. But, who would want to admit that the man they owed their life to was doing such terrible things?"

Yusuke finally admitted it. Awakening his Persona opened the side of him that wanted to be honest about it all. They finally knew what he actually felt, and the truth about Madarame's plagiarism.

"Why didn't you leave, Kitagawa-kun?"

"Well, he is the one who painted the 'Sayuri'. On top of that, I owe him a great debt..."

"You mean 'cause he raised you?"

"I...never knew my father. I was told my mother raised me by herself, but she died in an accident when I was three. That's when Sensei took me in. I heard he helped my mother when she was still alive..."

"Heard?"

"To be honest, I don't remember much about my mother either. I did everything I could for Sensei. I thought of him as a father...but he changed. To think he would treat 'Sayuri', the very foundation of his art, like that..."

They all symphatized with Yusuke. To have someone he looked up to, pulled him out of misery in the beginning, ended up doing the opposite when he grew up. Everyone shared the grief.

"When you mentioned 'plagiarism'...deep down I knew you were right. That's why I so vehemently denied you... I was simply running away from the truth. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Don't be so hard on yourself... We get it." Akira nodded.

They wanted to talk more, but there were guards sneaking up on them, and they're still in the museum. They had to leave, pronto.

Yusuke had understood a lot of things, including about Akira, Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana, collectively known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts he had heard in the news and his surroundings. At the moment, he didn't know what to do about Madarame. But whatever it might be, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were going to be on hand to help, and he couldn't be happier about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato's list of Personas as of the end of this chapter:  
> Below is the list of Minato's Personas up until the end of this chapter:  
> >Lv32 Orpheus  
> Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda, Endure, Maragion, Marakukaja, Fire Boost  
> >Lv12 Genbu  
> Skills: Bufu, Rakunda, Dia, Resist Confuse, Patra, Mabufu, Resist Forget, Defense Master  
> >Lv10 Kelpie  
> Skills: Lunge, Garu, Skull Cracker, Apt Pupil, Resist Brainwash, Sukukaja, Terror Claw  
> >Lv13 Hua Po  
> Skills: Agi, Dormina, Sukunda, Rakunda, Tarunda, Resist Forget, Maragi  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Burn Boost  
> >Lv12 Succubus  
> Skills: Marin Karin, Rebellion, Zio, Eiha, Evil Touch, Agi, Dekaja, Brainwash Boost, Mudo  
> >Lv10 Saki Mitama  
> Skills: Bufu, Energy Drop, Wind Wall, Resist Sleep, Growth 1, Rakukaja, Resist Dizzy  
> >Lv5 Agathion  
> Skills: Zio, Baisudi, Dia, Lunge  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Rakukaja, Dodge Elec  
> >Lv12 Kodama  
> Skills: Garu, Rakunda, Psi  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Evil Touch, Tarukaja, Fear Boost, Resist Fear  
> >Lv6 Bicorn  
> Skills: Lunge, Tarunda, Garu  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Ice Wall, Apt Pupil  
> >Lv7 Silky  
> Skills: Bufu, Dormina, Dia  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Patra, Sharp Student


	11. Museum Investigation

Saturday. May 21st, 2017.

After school, Minato headed to the station, and went straight ahead to the storage lockers and took out a bag containing extra piece of clothing he snuggled in earlier in the morning on his way to school. He immediately went into the restrooms to get changed.

He ditched the entirety of his school outfit, including the turtleneck shirt, and changed to a special set of outfit he had prepared for his Metaverse adventures. The outfit consisted of a dress shirt underneath a hooded jacket and a pair of tapered cargo pant. After getting changed, he put his bags back in the locker along with his school outfit for him to take home after he was done with the exploration. He also chose to leave behind any form of possession that might trace back to him, including his wallet and his earphones. He only took with him his phone, the recovery items, a brand new pair of tactical gloves with reinforced knuckles, a face mask, some hair clips, and the Evoker.

His objective for the day; get access and investigate a world separate from Mementos associated with Ichiryusai Madarame, regardless of the Phantom Thieves' presence in the area. Since the Phantom Thieves were seen around the area several times already, he was positive that another world separate from Mementos existed.

As he approached the area, he looked around to see if someone was following him. After making sure it was clear, he stood around, waiting for the Phantom Thieves to show up. However, that day, they were nowhere to be seen. The coast was finally clear for him to go ahead on his own. He looked at the alleged plagiarism post from the Phantom Aficionado Website to find clues regarding what the keywords might be. If the pattern which he used to get access Kamoshida's castle was anything to go by, it meant he had discovered three out of the four required keywords. Ichiryusai Madarame; the shack; and plagiarism. All he needed was the fourth keyword.

As Minato thought of a fitting fourth keyword, he watched someone pass by. He had neck length brown hair, wearing a tan peacoat and black trousers. He also brought a briefcase with him. He watched where the mysterious person was going, and then was forced to take action when he suddenly made a turn to the direction of Madarame's house. Call it a hunch, but to him, the mysterious person looked like he was going to attempt something as soon as he reached Madarame's house.

He decided the first course of action was to put some distance between himself and the mysterious person to make sure he didn't get found out. About five minutes later, he stepped out and stood across to Madarame's house to open the app and input the first three keywords. Just as he finished inputting them, the fourth keyword sprung into mind and he pronounced it. "Museum..."

"Destination found, beginning navigation."

He put his phone in the pocket and put on the gloves as the world around him changed. What was a shack became a huge, gaudy-looking museum full of visitors waiting in line. He examined the surroundings, looking for an entrance. He saw a truck parked near a wall low enough to jump over off the truck, but he figured that would be way too easy, since there was always a chance of guards patrolling just behind the wall. He deduced it was probably the Phantom Thieves' way of entry into the museum as well. He looked around the other side of the museum, but found no entrance point for him to get in from. The choice was down to either jumping over the wall off the truck, or sneaking through the crowd waiting in line.

Eventually, he decided the best one was to jump over the wall. He thought about engaging he two guards standing in the front of the line, but it wasn't like he could just shank the guards and move on. He had to defeat them in the same manner as before, which included having to rip their masks off. Not ideal when there were crowds around. Who knew what might happen if the crowd - real or not - saw eldritch creatures coming out of the guards.

As he climbed onto the truck, he could feel something rather odd even though he didn't see anything wrong with the surroundings. The crowd standing in line didn't bother noticing him either so it was all well and good. With that, he proceeded with the investigation. He walked through the garden and found platforms he could jump onto, so he took them. The platforms eventually led to an open skyline with a rope conveniently attached to it, which he glided down to get to one of the museum's many exhibition halls. The presence of the rope did concern him a bit as he didn't know whether it was deliberately set up there with a trap on the other end, or the security of the museum was actually a bit looser than he initially thought and no one ever actually bothered with a rope attached to the open skyline let alone the open skyline itself.

Regardless, it seemed safe to go down via the rope with no traps laid on the other side. The open skyline led him to an exhibition hall. It was rather dark, but it wasn't pitch black. He also could see what look like laser sensors set up on the hallway leading to the other parts of the exhibition hall. However, his attention was rather focused on the paintings which had portraits of people of various age, men and women, exhibited. The description of each pictures contained personal information of the ones portrayed. They didn't creep him out, but there was a cause of concern. Having heard about Madarame taking in a lot of pupils over the years, he wondered whether those portrayed were the pupils, past and present. The number of pictures indicated how many pupils Madarame had taken in all those years. A name of those who were portrayed was mentioned in the Phantom Aficionado Website, Natsuhiko Nakanohara. According to the site, he was a former pupil of Madarame's but instead of working as an artist he's working desk jobs. If that was the case with the others beside Nakanohara, then what Tony said wasn't just a rumor, but was in fact, a fact. A fact covered up very well considering Madarame's status.

He sat down to have a rest in the museum's lobby to soak it all in while reading the pamphlet he took from the reception desk. The pamphlet contained a map of the museum, even though there's no way the museum was that small considering its sheer size from the outside. Regardless, he held on to the pamphlet as it contained valuable information. He felt thirsty but found himself kicking at the vending machines as they weren't meant for interaction. He was going to have to endure to the thirst a little as he decided to progress further in.

Before he moved on, however, he noticed something. He hadn't seen the mysterious brown-haired person since he entered the museum. He was either mistaken, or he had progressed further than he thought. The lack of guards in the hall he just came out of was also odd to him. He was prepared to fight whatever enemies trying to get across him, but the lack of it meant he could save his energy. He didn't dismiss the possibility of the mysterious person going on ahead and defeated the guards before he even stepped in. But that would mean the mysterious person was a Persona-user and might attack him upon encounter. That only made him more cautious.

Anyway, he decided to move on. Whatever hostile forces he had to take out, would be taken out in the stealthiest way possible. He wanted to limit using his Personas and focus more on melee attacks for the sake of it. He only had his limbs as weapons until he found a baton lying around and decided to take it. He's normally not used to blunt weapons but he was confident about it. If push came to shove, the baton would have to come out.

Nothing exciting happened as he progressed by. There were nothing valuable he could even salvage. Although so far these worlds hadn't ceased to entertain his eyes. During his last journey, there was little beauty to behold. Everything about the Dark Hour was green with a mix of red from all the liquids and coffins. Tartarus was oppressive and draining, even though he eventually got used to it. The Shadow encounters outside of Tartarus provided a little break from the pattern, even though in the end Tartarus was revealed to be the beacon of it all from the beginning. Here, however, the sight of the museum amazed him. He never knew something like this would exist, let alone represent a single person. The same could be said about the castle he previously found. The more he explored the museum, the more he became interested.

He got past the courtyard in the central garden and found a new area that wasn't written in the pamphlet he picked up earlier. He had a hunch about the area being bigger than what the map portrayed earlier, and he was proven right. He found himself standing in another exhibition hall, only this one was decorated a lot differently from the other. The same pictures portraying people were also found in that exhibition hall but the one piece that stood out was the massive statue of what he assumed to be Ichiryusai Madarame. Whether it was simply gold-plated or made out of entirely gold, he's not sure. Just as he walked past the statue, he found another pamphlet stand. He inspected it and took a pamphlet which contained an entirely different map from before. He put out the first pamphlet alongside the second one to see if he could put two and two together. After a little deliberation, he managed to link them together, creating a much bigger map. With new areas opened for him to walk about, he moved on.

The next portion of the exploration was filled with mostly boredom. He did fight a few guards as a mean of warming up, and he managed to acquire Inugami out of all that. Then he found some treasure boxes. However, they were locked, and it didn't look like someone had a key to open them. There were unlocked doors, though, which he opened to reveal even more areas.

The hallways he walked onto led him to a huge room which had shutters installed. However, the shutters were the least of his worries. The one thing that worried him was the abundance of guards and trip sensors installed all over the room. It's not like he could actually see the lasers, but for all he knew, it might be covering the whole room which meant there was a high chance he might trip them and invite the guards to gang up on him. He wanted to go on ahead, but he decided to play it safe and not get into the room even though he knew the significance of opening the shutters which in turn would open paths to the rest of the map. That also meant the Phantom Thieves hadn't been investigating the area. So he decided to leave it to them to figure out how to safely get in and get past the area. With that, he decided he had seen enough for the investigation. After noting down what he found, he returned to entrance cautiously to avoid anyone spotting him.

In the end, he made it back, all the way past the set of sliding doors leading to the central garden near a safe room by the pond. Just as he emerged and stood by the pond, he sensed the same aura he first felt before entering the museum back in the real world. Then he felt a bullet flew past and it made a hole in the wall. He looked the other way to find where it came from, and then he saw a figure adorned in black and purple complete with a mask and a helmet making a sort of grand entrance through the set of sliding doors.

"Been exploring, huh?" The figure spoke. "I didn't think someone else would be here... Though I have to wonder, did you happen to just find this place and then decided to wander around?" He walked closer towards Minato.

"..." Minato wanted to answer, but seeing that the one speaking was most likely hostile, he remained silent. Instead, he anticipated whatever was about to come.

The figure wasn't amused with Minato's silence. "You're not gonna talk?"

"..." Meanwhile Minato just stood there, hands in pockets. The figure could feel the hostility in how he stood.

The figure let out a dark chuckle. "Ah...where are my manners? Let's start with introductions first. They know me as...Black Mask."

Without even trying, Minato had obtained the mysterious man's alias, which he considered fitting and easy to remember. However, he didn't owe him anything despite being kind enough to introduce himself, so he continued to remain silent.

"...You're not even gonna introduce yourself? How rude..." The figure frowned. All he could see under the hood was a pair of eyes looking at him. He proceeded to unsheathe his sword. "Are you perhaps...one of the Phantom Thieves? Do you even know them...?

Again, Minato remained silent.

Black Mask sighed. His questioning was getting him nowhere. "Looks like I'm gonna have to force it out of you."

Black Mask charged at Minato with a forward swing, which Minato easily sidestepped. Then he followed up with two diagonal swings and an overhead swing, all comfortably avoided by Minato. He stepped forward to close the distance, then came up with a forward thrust. Again, Minato saw it coming, and sidestepped it. But then he countered by grabbing the hand holding the sword and kicked Black Mask in the gut. Then he tossed him forward, kicking him in the back with a thrust kick. That left Black Mask staggered as he was surprised that Minato had countered.

"...You don't even have a weapon?" Black Mask turned to face Minato, assuming a stance. The counter from the hooded man didn't really hurt him. Although it's the first time for him to have someone fight him bare-handed.

Minato remained silent, and instead replied by balling both his hands into fists and put them up, readying himself. He could see that the Black Mask most likely had trained himself to be able to wield his sword judging by his attack variations. Despite being able to dodge, he's still at a disadvantage since the opponent had a bladed weapon. Still, he decided to not pull out the baton just yet.

"Don't underestimate me!" Black Mask was aggravated at the assumption of him being played. He attacked again. He threw an overhead swing which missed, but as the sword clashed with the floor, he swung it to the side which Minato had stepped to avoid the preceding slash although the attack still missed as Minato shifted back to avoid it, putting some distance between both of them. Then he stepped forward and followed with another overhead swing. Instead of sidestepping, this time Minato rolled forward and slightly sideways to miss the point of impact and then clipped his leg with a sweep which made the Black Mask lost his balance. He regained the balance quick enough to throw a random swing which forced Minato to shift back again to avoid it, cancelling whatever follow-up he was about to throw at him.

Black Mask alternated to his gun, seeing that he hadn't been able to register a hit with his sword. Seeing this, Minato quickly shifted forward and grabbed the hand holding the gun before he could get to aim and fire. Then he turned the gun around, whipped it at Black Mask's face. Then, using his body as leverage, he quickly rotated himself to a position where he's basically putting his entire weight on top of his opponents' back until he's in a kneeling position then put him in a wrist lock and sprained said wrist. Black Mask let out a pained scream and dropped his gun as he squirmed while clutching the sprained wrist. However, Minato wasn't done and finished it with a stomp to the back of the head. The stomp was hard enough to knock Black Mask's face against the ground, but apparently his mask saved him from breaking his face. Minato then grabbed the gun, unloaded it, and tossed it into the pond.

The preceding attack nearly knocked Black Mask out cold. The combination of his mask and helmet saved him. He was struggling, but still managed to get up, as if the hooded man had let him do so. He was largely okay, apart from suffering a slight concussion and having one hand rendered useless. He then sheathed his sword while consuming a healing item which relieved the pain in the incapacitated hand. "Heh...I didn't expect you to be so proficient at fighting... You even managed to lose my gun. You're good, I give you that." He chuckled, then grinned amusingly before grabbing onto his mask, which was cracked after saving his face.

Minato knew it all too well, Black Mask was going to summon his Persona. He braced himself.

"But without a Persona, you're nothing! Let's see if you can handle this! Come, Loki!"

A zebra-patterned Persona wielding a sword appeared above Black Mask. It quickly charged in the place of its user and produced a gigantic swing that Minato had to roll out of the way. Another swing almost chopped his neck off but he managed to vault himself off the wall to avoid it. However, he was quickly running out of room to keep dodging.

Minato realized that the current environment they're fighting at didn't have a lot of room to maneuver, so he forced Black Mask to chase him back through the sliding doors leading to the courtyard. While giving chase to the hooded man and having Loki summoned, Black Mask spammed some Curse spells. The first one just missed behind him, the second one fell in front of him, forcing him to stop, and the third one would've hit him had he not rolled out of the way.

The summoning of his Persona had made Black Mask fight more aggressively, something Minato noticed. The spam changed from Curse to Fire spells, which set fire to some bushes in the courtyard as a result. With all the spamming Black Mask had done, Minato was still unscathed even though it managed to put some more distance between them. Black Mask grew even more restless and more frustrated at the fact that he still couldn't hit his opponent. He decided to double down, commanding his Persona to use its sword while he assisted by luring the hooded man into eating his slashes.

Black Mask ordered Loki to charge while he ran right behind it. Minato managed to knee-slide underneath Loki's attempted slash but then on his sights was Black Mask with a jumping overhead slash. Minato had no time to dodge it, so instead he used the metal knuckles of his gloves and blocked Black Mask's attack with it. He crossed his fists just in time to catch the slash and hold it from slicing him in half.

However, Black Mask didn't give up. He tried putting his whole weight into it in hopes of breaking the guard. But the still-kneeling Minato managed to overpower it and was able to stand up. He parried the attack upwards and returned the favour with a clean punch to the gut and a hook to the face which sent Black Mask flying into the bushes.

Black Mask momentarily disappeared into the bushes and emerged behind Minato to try and stab him. Minato almost saw it too late and heel-kicked the sword away before turning around to give him a thrust kick and finished it with a jumping kick off one of the decorative block in the area. That knocked Black Mask a bit further back but then he summoned Loki and almost caught Minato off guard as he narrowly escaped another slash and two successive Fire spells. For a good few minutes, Black Mask let Loki attack Minato while he got himself a breather.

"Stop moving around and hitting me! Can't we just talk!?" Black Mask shouted. Even if Minato wanted to reply to that, he couldn't since he was too busy dodging and studying Loki's capabilities.

Even though he was still in pristine condition, it was getting harder for Minato to keep dodging due to his opponent's aggressiveness with his Persona, despite his best efforts. At that moment, his Persona was set to Orpheus, which meant getting hit by a Curse spell could potentially end the fight with him losing, or worse, getting killed. After studying what Loki's capabilities were, he was left with two options. The first one was to retaliate using an appropriate Persona, but risk having the opponent gain knowledge of him. The second one was to get close, forgo using Personas and bait Black Mask into overcommitting so he could knock him out, but risk getting caught by either him or his Persona.

In the end, he chose option two. He switched to Inugami, the appropriate Persona to be able to take both Fire and Curse spells head-on. That allowed him to get close without minding about taking damage. Surely enough with the guaranteed immunity in place, his movement directions changed from mainly sideways to mainly forwards.

Black Mask's attacks finally hit his target. But there was a problem which quickly became glaring. The target remained unwavered and was quickly charging forwards even after successive hits. He suddenly panicked as he was within the hooded man's striking distance. He swung his sword at him, only for the hooded man to block it by kicking him in the arm, jerking him back. Before he could react, he was suddenly pulled towards his opponent. He felt his body bending slighlty downwards, then a knee hit him hard in the abdomen. A jab to his right kidney followed. He felt more pain as a hard side kick hit him in his other kidney. He thought the onslaught was over but then he realized his head was completely out in the open. He tried to put his hands up but a powerful high kick from the hooded man beat him to it. He might be wearing a helmet but the head kick seemed to have ignored the armor and he was down to his sides. He couldn't believe at what just happened.

Minato had been aware of the Metaverse's nature of amplifying physical abilities of Persona-users much like how the Dark Hour was after he got used to the draining atmosphere, which factored into him picking the second option. He was already powerful, but the Metaverse's effects made it seemed like he was under the effect of an unlimited buffing. It's also the reason why he had been able to one-shot most if not all enemies he encountered. However, he was aware that human enemies more often than not were able to withstand a few hits, like Black Mask did. Nevertheless, he was still surprised that he managed to pull off what was basically a command grab from a video game he played the week before.

Black Mask managed to muster some energy and get up. However, even the mask couldn't hide his rather messed up state. "Damn it..." The hooded man looked on as he depleted the last of his recovery items, healing some of the bruises he sustained. "Heh, looks like you still won't talk... Very well, I hate to resort to this just to make you spill a few words... Loki!"

Minato readied himself as Black Mask summoned his Persona. He was ready to take in more of those Fire and Curse spells, but then he mumbled an entirely different spell while pointing his sword towards him.

"Megidola."

Whatever Persona he equipped won't be immune to Almighty spells, so he quickly charged forward. Despite the powerful nature, Almighty spells had longer startups. The delivery wasn't as instant as, say, a Fire spell. He took advantage of that and was quickly within striking distance again. With the sword ready, Black Mask would cut Minato's arm off so he pulled out the baton and knocked the sword away with one swing, much to Black Mask's surprise. Within a blink of an eye, an uppercut landed on his chin, followed by a backhand swing of the baton to the face, then a forward kick knocking him a few feet back. By the time the combo had landed, the Almighty spell had come out and missed wildly. Again, before Black Mask could have Loki do something, the hooded man attacked him again. He was forced to fight unarmed but it was in vain as the punch he threw ended up getting the already sprained hand even more sprained added with two punches to the face, a heel kick, and finished with a hard tornado kick which turned out to be the knockout blow that left Black Mask lie helplessly on the floor. The mask which only showed some cracks before had been shattered. The fight was over as Black Mask was having difficulties processing what just happened.

"How...? Without a Persona... Who...are you...?" Black Mask groaned on the ground before losing consciousness as he tried to collect himself.

Minato sighed. Thankfully he was unhurt and the whole of him remained unscathed. However, the guy he just knocked out didn't look so great. He wanted to leave him there in the courtyard, but he wanted to know why this guy just attacked him. But it looked like he overdid it again. Whatever questioning he was about to do was about to wait. He could've done it back when they were fighting, but he was too busy trying to not let anything slip to even speak.

Again, he was left with two choices. One, carry him to a safe room nearby and just leave him there, whether he'd come to or not would be out of his hands. Two, carry him all the way out of the Metaverse and call the ambulance so he'd be taken care of. He picked the second choice as he felt a little bad for Black Mask, now partially devoid of a mask. He picked him up and carried him on his shoulders.

He was aware of the chances that people might abuse the Metaverse to conduct murders since society didn't generally knew about such a thing, nor did they care. It would be a perfect crime since the evidence were hidden in the Metaverse and the police wouldn't find anything strange since they wouldn't even believe it. However, the last thing he wanted was having the police show up on his doorstep to question about anything related to the Black Mask.

Eventually, after painstakingly carrying the poor guy on his back, Minato managed to bring him out of the Metaverse. He laid him against the wall and then looked around. Once he thought it's safe, he began the search. He only looked for anything that might identify him. Surely enough, all he had to do was check the wallet, and from that he got Black Mask's real name, Goro Akechi.

He wanted to look for more, but for the moment, the name was enough info. He called the ambulance and told them that he found someone lying helplessly on the ground beaten up. After calling the ambulance, and looked from afar to make sure the paramedics actually came to take care of the brown haired guy, he left the area and got changed back to his school outfit as soon as he reached the station.

On his way home, all he could think about was the Akechi guy. He did some research on his way home. He discovered that Akechi had been dubbed by the media as the "Second Coming of the Detective Prince". The term " Detective Prince" made him curious so he went ahead and looked it up.

What he ended up discovering just by surfing the web was interesting. It turned out the first Detective Prince wasn't even a guy, but a girl, named Naoto Shirogane. Naoto herself came from a family of rich detective heritage, and she was the fifth generation in the family. The term "Detective Prince" itself turned out to be something overly blown out by the media. Whether it ever bothered Naoto or not eluded Minato's understanding.

On the other hand, Goro Akechi seemed to be embracing the nickname, becoming more and more popular to the point where he's considered a celebrity. He also looked to be on good terms with the police and had proven to be helpful at times. He also had a food blog, which contained reviews of a lot of restaurants, most of them hidden in backalleys yet provide quality dishes. Minato felt relieved inside after knowing he did the right thing by carrying him out of the Metaverse.

What made him curious about Akechi more than anything was his alignment. He had his fair share of Persona-users standing in his way before in the form of Strega. He himself had a lot of questions, all of which noted down in his phone.

_Where do you stand in accordance to the Phantom Thieves?_

_What were you doing inside the museum?_

_How long have you been able to use a Persona?_

_Why did you attack me?_

_Do you work alone?_

Those were the questions popped up in his head. But for the time being, it was getting dark out. He went downtown to grab dinner then went home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato's list of Personas as of the end of this chapter:  
> >Lv32 Orpheus  
> Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda, Endure, Maragion, Marakukaja, Fire Boost  
> >Lv12 Genbu  
> Skills: Bufu, Rakunda, Dia, Resist Confuse, Patra, Mabufu, Resist Forget, Defense Master  
> >Lv10 Kelpie  
> Skills: Lunge, Garu, Skull Cracker, Apt Pupil, Resist Brainwash, Sukukaja, Terror Claw  
> >Lv13 Hua Po  
> Skills: Agi, Dormina, Sukunda, Rakunda, Tarunda, Resist Forget, Maragi  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Burn Boost  
> >Lv12 Succubus  
> Skills: Marin Karin, Rebellion, Zio, Eiha, Evil Touch, Agi, Dekaja, Brainwash Boost, Mudo  
> >Lv10 Saki Mitama  
> Skills: Bufu, Energy Drop, Wind Wall, Resist Sleep, Growth 1, Rakukaja, Resist Dizzy  
> >Lv5 Agathion  
> Skills: Zio, Baisudi, Dia, Lunge  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Rakukaja, Dodge Elec  
> >Lv12 Kodama  
> Skills: Garu, Rakunda, Psi  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Evil Touch, Tarukaja, Fear Boost, Resist Fear  
> >Lv6 Bicorn  
> Skills: Lunge, Tarunda, Garu  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Ice Wall, Apt Pupil  
> >Lv7 Silky  
> Skills: Bufu, Dormina, Dia  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Patra, Sharp Student  
> >Lv15 Inugami  
> Skills: Giant Slice, Pulinpa, Tarukaja, Dream Needle  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Lucky Punch, Brain Shake, Confuse Boost


	12. Battle For the Painting (and a Request)

Thursday. May 26th, 2017.

The final period of school for that day had been changed from mathematics to self-study for classroom 3-B since the teacher wasn't present. As always, the students were able to keep the voice down even though not all of them actually studied but instead doing some other things. As the bell rang, signaling the end of school for the day, the students packed their bags as per usual. Minato had just finished tutoring both Konoe and Tony on the previous exam materials while Makoto just looked on, still wondering how Minato managed to top the rankings for the third-years. It's the first time she had been knocked off the number one spot ever in high school.

"All right, who's in the mood for some karaoke?" Konoe said loudly, which gathered everyone's attention.

"Sorry, I'll pass." Makoto looked behind while packing up her bag.

"Aw man... Let me guess, student council work?" Konoe looked a little disappointed.

"Yeah..." Makoto sighed. From the look on her face, she seemed to be rather stressed.

"You gotta unwind a little, Niijima." Tony advised. "It's no good having a student council president who's rather moody all the time."

Makoto realized the look on her face was probably not the one people would like to see coming out of a student council president. "Sorry... It's just...Things have been rather rough lately."

"Let me guess... You're playing 'yes man' to the principal again?" Tony went straight at it.

"That's..." Makoto couldn't decide whether to admit or deny Tony's accusation.

"I-In any case, we can't have our Prez walk around feeling all gloomy and tired." Konoe cut in. "At least you gotta cheer up, Niijima-san. If you can't come with us, it's okay."

"Thanks, Konoe-kun." Makoto got up from her seat and sincerely smiled at Konoe. "I'll join in some other time. Later..."

"Don't push yourself too hard!" Konoe shouted. He then turned at Tony, questioning about the accusation from earlier. "You didn't have to lay it out thick, man..."

"It kinda bothers me how resigned she is at times when it comes to her duties..." Tony sighed.

"Well, if the Prez isn't doing the job, who else would?" Konoe argued the case.

"I know... It's just... She's been a little too stiff lately." Tony pointed.

"So you noticed it too..." Konoe snickered. "She's taking it all in her stride... I wish she'd just open up a little. It's grinding on other student council members, too."

"If she's not opening up, how would others help her out?" Tony frowned. He decided to leave the issue be for the time being. "Anyway, let's go."

Just as Minato got up from his desk, his phone rang. It's an incoming call from an unknown contact.

"Good afternoon, this is Theodore."

"Theo? What is it?"

"I'm calling to inform you that the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are currently carrying out an operation to take away the distorted desires of Ichiryusai Madarame as we speak."

"Right now?"

"Yes. It would be prudent for you to provide assistance within the required parameters if the conditions permit."

Before Minato could reply, he could hear what sounded like Elizabeth snatching the phone from Theo at the other end of the line. "Although we have our own conviction that the new wild card would be able to withstand the ordeal under his own accord, we ask that you at the very least watch over him. It is advised to refrain from providing excessive amounts of assistance. Only assist him when it is at the utmost priority."

"Understood. Anything else?"

"Please exercise caution, dear. It would put me in worlds of anguish to see you sustain any injuries."

"I always plan to come back in one piece, Elizabeth..."

"Very well... I will tightly hold on to your reassurance. Tackle it with gusto..."

"Gotcha."

With that, Minato hung up the call. To further reassure that the Phantom Thieves were indeed pulling the trigger on Madarame, he checked the Phantom Aficionado Website to see it lit on fire. The calling card was just sent about half an hour ago and people were already talking about it all over the site. He possibly didn't have much time to catch up to the Phantom Thieves, so he had to hurry.

"Where are you going, Yuki?" Konoe noticed Minato hastily gathering his stuff and walked to the door.

"I gotta go. Something important just came up..." Minato waved them goodbye.

"Well, see you tomorrow."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the museum, the Phantom Thieves had just executed their plan to steal the Treasure and were running away with it. Unfortunately, curiosity got the better of Morgana and he decided to check what's hidden in the cover. It turned out to be a painting, but not the one they wanted. Instead of something a little more artistic, what they're presented with scribbles of a cat's face.

They couldn't believe it at first, but then they realized they had been duped. They were also guilty for thinking it would be that easy. Soon enough, as they were all still trying to shake off the confusion, Shadow Madarame appeared, accompanied by two guards.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Shadow Madarame glanced at the guard holding what looked like another painting.

"What nonsense that you used a mousetrap on me!"

"So you had a fake prepped, huh?"

"Now that I think back, the only reason why I took you in was due to my ties with your mother. That woman never lost her passion for painting even after her husband died. Her skills and talents were quite astonishing... That's why I decided to look after her." Shadow Madarame began revealing the true scheme. "Your mother and the artwork she created - they're all MY works of art!"

"How low can you sink...?"

"I suppose I can grant you a gift before you die..." Shadow Madarame glanced again at the guard holding a painting. "A glimpse of the genuine 'Sayuri'!"

"Genuine...?"

That was the first time Yusuke heard of such a thing. The guard stepped forward, and revealed the painting, which looked like the Sayuri Yusuke had know all this time. Except, there was one major difference everyone quickly noticed. The "Sayuri" they knew all along had clouds covering the lower part of the painting. The cloud was missing from the painting they're seeing, with a baby taking its place.

"This can't be..." It was a startling revelation for Yusuke. "Mom..."

"Indeed it is. This was painted by your mother. It's a portrait of herself. A woman who knew her death was coming painted her last wishes, for the son she would leave behind. That is the truth behind they mystery of 'Sayuri"s expression!"

"You stole something THAT personal!?"

"I knew at first glance... I knew it'd be a huge success, if I added a touch to the painting and announced it under my name!"

"But the baby in the picture... Why did you paint over it...?"

"...It was all to stage it. If the baby is erased, the reason for the woman's expression will become a mystery...! That is what the general public is drawn to! Each of those parasitic critics wrote the same thing!"

"I always felt something was off about this... Now I know what it is." Ann had grown very suspicious of all of it for quite some time, and all of it had ben confirmed as the confrontation continues. "If you really treasured that painting, you wouldn't even think about replicating it for profit! You don't love art at all!"

"Though you have a real Treasure, your true skills are nothing more than those scribbles on that fake!"

"It makes me laugh, asshole!"

"So you'll defy me no matter what..." There was no room for reason anymore. "Well then, since you're my work of art, Yusuke, I'm going to reap you for the sake of my future...along with those insolent friends of yours there."

"I can't believe you're treating both mother and son like they're objects... You're inhuman!"

"Fox?"

"I've heard that you destroy your 'art' once they outlive their usefulness...did that include my mother as well?" It was a question that everyone wanted to ask.

Shadow Madarame explained, "She just so happened to have a seizure in front of me. That's when a thought crossed my mind... If I don't call for help and leave her be, I could obtain her painting without any strings attached."

"No..." Ann couldn't believe it, neither could everyone else. "You let her die!?"

"She was physically weak. No one would doubt if she just dropped dead because of a seizure. Above all, Yusuke, didn't you think it was odd - that I discovered your talent when you were only three?"

"Huh?" Even Yusuke never thought of that before.

"The reason why I kept you around was to keep you from realizing the truth behind 'Sayuri'.

"You killed her..."

"The artistic talents you inherited were a delightful miscalculation, though. If I'm to stal ideas, it's much easier robbing the future of brats who won't talk back than adults. It's thanks to you that I came up with the idea. You have my gratitude."

With that, Yusuke finally snapped, he had enough of it.

"Fox?"

"Yusuke?"

"I thank you, Madarame. Every reason for me to forgive you has disappeared without a trace at this very moment! You aren't some rotten artist...you're a despicable fiend who wears the skin of an artist!"

"All you good for-nothings! Barging into my museum and doing whatever the hell you want..." A nasty dark aura began gathering around Shadow Madarame. "Those who have the connections make the rules; those who don't, follow them. Not to mention, the value of art is all subjective! I make the rules in the art scene! I am the supreme being! I am the god of the art world!"

"This isn't good! Get back!"

Shadow Madarame transformed into four huge paintings, each represented a part of its face. Two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

"Now...let's begin, you vermin!"

"You used others for your own despicable desires, Madarame... You aren't even worth the art you 'create'!"

* * *

For the first time, Minato was late into something, like way late. He hoped the wild card would be able to hold his own before he could make it. Just as he arrived at the area, he briefly checked around to see if someone was watching. He came across a female journalist who turned out to be snooping around the area after she too heard that the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were coming for Madarame. Minato had no time to deal with her, so he told her off before opening the app and accessed the museum once he was sure the female journalist was as far away as possible from the area.

He admitted that the whole Madarame thing wasn't really his business, but for the sake of the new wild card, he decided to help them. Just like the time when the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were coming for Kamoshida, the security in the museum had substantially increased. But then again, it wasn't much of a problem for Minato. Just like before, he quickly disposed of the guards who were standing in the way.

He finally made it back to the pond near the safe room. Up ahead, he could see the set of sliding doors fully opened, revealing none other than the Phantom Thieves of Hearts fighting what looked like four floating paintings in the courtyard. He couldn't see much from there, so he decided to get closer by using the sliding doors as cover, moving one door closer at a time.

As he moved closer, he thought of a way to try assist the Phantom Thieves. But there was one problem. The two warring parties were on a wide open area with only one way of access and no elevated platforms whatsoever. Not to mention the paintings had a higher vantage point, especially two of them which looked like a pair of eyes. Assisting the Phantom Thieves was going to be tricky, if not impossible. Having put all those factors into deliberation, he came to a decision to not move any closer than the fifth closest sliding door to the courtyard to avoid getting spotted.

He decided to watch them fight before deciding his next course of action. From where he was watching, it looked like they had a slight upperhand over the floating paintings as they had a one man advantage. One interesting thing that he noticed was the difference in immunity. The floating mouth and nose regenerated their health when they took physical attacks, and the floating eyes did the same toward spells.

After some time, the Phantom Thieves began noticing the pattern, and with a combined effort they managed to defeat all four paintings. They all merged into one, transforming back to Shadow Madarame. The Phantom Thieves began surrounding it, pointing their ranged weapons at it before proceeding with an all-out attack which put a dent on its health. After recovering, Shadow Madarame summoned orbs of Almighty projectiles which the Phantom Thieves managed to miss at the expense of putting some distance between them and their enemy. Having put some distance, Shadow Madarame transformed back into the same four floating paintings, and the Phantom Thieves would have to start from scratch again.

The sight of four Phantom Thieves wielding firearms had Minato curious. He knew they're high school students just like him, and yet they're able to acquire them. He remembered that Black Mask too carried a firearm alongside a sword when they fought each other. As comparison, in his previous journey, SEES weren't allowed to acquire any kinds of firearms from the police officer they're working with sans Aigis who had them built-in on purpose. Then again, their media of summoning took form of a pistol instead of a mask. Even then, they're not allowed to bring their Evokers out during non-SEES activities. It made him wonder whether he too could acquire a firearm and use it in the Metaverse despite already having a ranged weapon in the form of a bow. He also wondered whether having firearms had become a norm amongst Persona-users as he watched on.

Then again, he first thought the Evoker was a real gun. The first time he got a hold of one, he aimed it at a massive Shadow that was attacking the dorm only for a mysterious boy inside of him directing to point it at his head and pull the trigger, resulting in him awakening his Persona for the first time.

* * *

The Phantom Thieves were on the second iteration of trying to down the four floating paintings, having been able to reduce their health to about halfway through. Since nothing seemed to change, the Phantom Thieves were able to put it on cruise control. They steadily cover each other while making sure everyone remained in one piece. But suddenly something new happened. The right eye splurged out black paint at the Phantom Thieves. Ann and Morgana got reckless and became covered in them.

"What's this?" Ann was trying to get a feel of what just covered her. "Eww, is this paint?"

"What is this attack!? There has to be more that just our color changing! We should be cautious!"

"You're right, Mona. Everyone, be careful."

Ann and Morgana was covered in paint. Both of them didn't feel anything strange other than the obvious change of color. However, what they didn't know was that the paint came with a nasty effect. When the left eye cast a random elemental spell, the two of them froze in place and could only look on as the spell hit them, rendering them unconscious.

"Mona! Panther!"

"Shit! How the eff're they suddenly knocked out!?"

Seeing two of their companions lay helplessly on the ground, the remaining three Phantom Thieves were forced to get back and tend to their incapacitated friends. Fortunately, Akira had already prepared for such predicament. He took out two Revival Beads and tossed it to the floor where Ann and Morgana were laying. Flowers began to grow from the Revival Beads and they were able to restore Ann and Morgana's consciousness. After that, they decided to put some distance and take a little breather.

"So that paint renders one's ability to withstand hits..." They decided to have a little discussion mid-battle.

"Right... We have to be more careful." Akira nodded while thinking of a strategy. "Mona, stay back and prioritize healing. Panther, you too stay back, focus on support skills. Skull and Fox, focus on attacking. I'll fill in the gaps. If any of you aren't feeling well, don't hesitate to take a time-out. And watch the paint!"

Everyone complied in unison. After making sure everyone had been fully healed, they headed into battle again.

"Goemon, Bufu!"

"Captain Kidd! Headbutt!

"Shiisaa! Skull Cracker!"

"Carmen! Tarunda!"

"Zorro! Garu!"

Having noted that the enemies had the ability to turn damage into health restoration, they adjusted accordingly. Everyone except Ann attacked while she lower the mouth's attack power as it packed quite a punch. In the next few minutes, they managed to down two of the four paintings, but there was another nasty surprise in store.

Akira already had suspicions earlier regarding the four paintings working as a unit. It turned out to be true as one of them managed to revive one of the two paintings the Phantom Thieves had just downed. One of the paintings was still down, but knowing they could revive each other could spell a huge problem.

"Oh no..."

"First the paint, now this!? Can this get even more complicated for us!?"

"Calm down, Skull!"

"We'll have to take them down in quick succession, then."

Before they could do anything, the right eye splurged paint again. Everyone managed to dodge it but unfortunately Ryuji stepped on them, resulting in him slipping and getting partially covered in paint. Seeing this, the right eye splashed more paint onto Ryuji. As a result, he was completely covered in paint, and blinded by it too just to add a little insult to it.

"Skull, what are you doing!?"

"I can't see...!"

Then the left eye threw an Electricity spell, something Ryuji was supposed to be good at dealing with. But the paint rendered his ability useless. He suddenly froze in place as the spell was cast. However, no one was going to let anyone get incapacitated again. Ann ran towards Ryuji and tackled him out of the way, narrowly missing the Electricity spell. Next, the mouth tried to bite his head off. Again, he was saved, this time by Akira who pulled him away.

"Thanks, guys..."

"No problem. We can't have any more casualties."

"Skull, take five. Sit back for a bit."

"But I'm doin' fine!"

"With you covered in paint, no. We still don't know how to wear it off."

"Fine... Dammit, will this thing ever go away!?"

They decided to have Ryuji take a breather while trying to figure out a way to remove the paint. As the battle continued, they could hear him ranting in the background, mainly about whether the paint would ever wear off. But minutes later, he was surprisingly back in there, looking much better than before.

"Skull! Stay back!"

"I'm all cleaned up, dude. No worries now!"

"...Oh."

"How did you do it?"

"Don't know. The paint just wore off..."

"So the paint's effect is only temporary..."

Still, even with the new knowledge, they couldn't rest easy knowing the paint's debilitating effect. The directive stayed the same. No one could afford getting covered by paint again, despite having support from others.

* * *

Minato was worried for a second when he saw two of the Phantom Thieves knocked out, but after seeing the teamwork they produced to take care of each other, he could watch the battle go on with less things to worry about. Still, he also saw the paint's effect on whoever covered by it. So while the Phantom Thieves fought on, he looked around for a solution while staying hidden. He also didn't fail to notice Shadow Madarame desperately managing to split back into four floating paintings after getting mauled with another all-out attack, extending the battle into yet another round.

After looking a little more carefully, he found what might just be the game changer in the battle; the cans of paint laid near the hedges. The color was the same as the paint that had debilitating effects one of the floating paintings splurged occasionally. He hadn't been able to help at all, but he thought just one well-timed assistance could prove to be crucial in the current condition.

The idea he had in mind was letting the Phantom Thieves know about the cans of paint without getting himself found out. As they were busy dodging and retaliating, he looked for a way to let them know of the paint. Eventually, he settled into trying to throw a piece of rock at it. But he himself was quite far away. Nevertheless, he peeked over the door and repeatedly aimed at the cans of paint. After making sure the rock was big enough to carry the momentum all the way, he moved one door closer, and aimed again. He focused as his eyes widened and then he threw the rock in one fell motion. He looked at the rock flying just past the twin-tailed girl and the new wild card, and he could hear a rather loud clank as the rock hit its intended target. That resulted in the Phantom Thieves getting distracted to look at where the sound came from. The clank wasn't part of the plan, but it got them noticing so it was a job well done. He quickly hid behind the door as the Phantom Thieves inspected where the sound came from.

* * *

"Hey, what are those?" They traced where the clank came from to the spot where they find cans of paint just lying there.

Akira inspected the cans of paint as they witnessed Shadow Madarame turned into the four paintings again. "It's paint. Let's use this."

"Isn't that the same thing Madarame's been using? Let's try covering him with it!"

It's a repeat of the same step they used to defeat Kamoshida, only this time with some paint instead of knocking off a piece of jewelry. Before Akira could assign someone to do it, Yusuke offered himself as the volunteer. "I'll do it. Leave it to me!"

Akira knew no one else was better for the job than Yusuke, so he gave him the honors. "Alright. We'll cover you."

"Go, dude! We gotcha covered!" Ryuji followed with his own encouragement.

Yusuke left the battle and hid behind the hedges, carrying a can of paint with him.

"Let's keep attacking." Akira commanded. "We have to distract him enough for Fox to have a chance."

"Carmen, Agi!"

"Zorro, Garu!"

"Captain Kidd! Headbutt!"

"Shiisaa! Skull Cracker!"

Everyone agreed, and they all went out to attack, each managing to deal damage. The enemy tried one more time with the paint, but everyone managed to dodge it. They kept on going as they saw Yusuke moved closer until finally Yusuke was close enough to cover the four floating paintings without getting detected. Yusuke then leapt off and gracefully brushed them in paint in one fell sweep.

"W-what the...? My powers... They're suddenly draining..." The sound of Madarame's grunting could be heard.

"Good job, Fox! Let's finish this."

"I'll handle it." Ryuji stepped in. "Captain Kidd! Mazio!"

As a result, they could see the effect already taking place. Ryuji's Electricity spell hit the paintings hard, knocking them down. They quickly surrounded the downed paintings, and directly hit them with another all out attack without even giving them a chance to reason. The all-out attack defeated the paintings and they merged back into one Shadow Madarame.

"Damn brats... Even if you cry for help someday...you'll regret this... No adult will help you..." Shadow Madarame warned.

"We'll do just fine." Akira snarled.

"Now's our chance! Attack the main body!" Morgana followed.

"I hope you're prepared to go down, Madarame!" Yusuke wasn't going to spare him mercy as they jumped in for another all-out attack. With it, they managed to finish Shadow Madarame off. He clutched his chest as he was finally down on his knees, admitting his defeat.

* * *

Seeing that, Minato decided his job was done. Despite a few hairy moments, the Phantom Thieves managed to get it done in the end. He wanted to stick around for more, but he didn't want to end up being squashed when the whole place started to crumble. So he turned his back and walked away silently, leaving them to apply the finishing touch by stealing the Treasure. He smiled, just like last time, knowing it ended well for the Phantom Thieves.

It's true that he didn't know the whole thing regarding Madarame aside from some online posts, but he knew after what the Phantom Thieves did, the real Madarame would come out and confess whatever sins he had committed just like Kamoshida did at school a few weeks before. He was also sure that there would be news talking about it, considering how famous Madarame was.

Again, memories of the old days invaded his brain. Back then, he too had his share of seeing team mates getting knocked out and tending to them while trying to keep himself alive. However, all the gimmicks he saw so far in the Phantom Thieves' battles so far were all brand new. It only served as further proof that things had indeed changed since he passed away. He used to think that he had stopped all the tragedy related to Shadows and Personas when he defeated Nyx. But at this moment, all of that made him realize he couldn't be any more wrong. He became aware that something big was going to challenge humanity some day in the same way Nyx and Erebus did, and the new wild card and his friends would have to answer to it, with him providing assistance somehow.

* * *

Yusuke approached Shadow Madarame as he hopelessly cling on to the genuine "Sayuri" he's holding. Fear crossed his face as he yelped for mercy. "No one cares for true arts... All they want are easily recognizable brands...! I'm a victim in this too...!"

"Excuses now..." Ryuji was amazed seeing Shadow Madarame still trying to reason to salvage whatever it is in that situation.

"The art world revolves around money after all... You can't rise up without any money..." Shadow Madarame continued. "Yusuke, you understand, don't you? Being a poor artist is truly miserable...! I just didn't want to return to that life!"

"A fiend like you has no right to speak about the world of art! You're done for, along with this abominous world!" Yusuke forcefully took "Sayuri" from Madarame's hands.

"No! Please...! Just...don't kill me!" Shadow Madarame shrieked.

"Return to yourself in reality and confess your crimes - all of them!"

"Y-you're not going to kill me...?"

"Swear it!" Yusuke yelled.

"All right... All right...!" Shadow Madarame shrieked some more. However, he wasn't done. "What about the other one though? The one with the black mask?"

That was something new. "Who?"

"A black mask?"

"Who's he talkin' about?"

"There's another intruder besides us within the Palace...!?"

They didn't have time to talk about it as the place began to crumble. Morgana quickly turned into his bus form and ordered everyone to get in.

"Hey Yusuke...what should I do." Shadow Madarame asked.

"Put an end to all this and use your artwork for once." Yusuke answered as he walked away with the Treasure. He quickly got into the bus and they drove away, leaving Shadow Madarame and his world crumbling around him.

* * *

Minato headed to the Velvet Room immediately after he exited the museum. But first, he wanted to bring something for the Velvet Siblings. He looked all over the town, thinking of what they might like. Then he came across a takoyaki joint. The decision on what to bring for the Velvet Siblings became a no-brainer as he bought packs of takoyaki in an instant.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Elizabeth immediately sensed something from what Minato was carrying. "This scent... Is that..."

"I brought some takoyaki."

"Yaaaaaay!" Elizabeth was delighted, followed by Theo. Margaret never really understood why and how the two of them came to like takoyaki so much. However, she too wouldn't mind having some every once in a while.

Minato distributed the takoyaki, and then sat in his chair as they enjoyed the meal together. He used the opportunity to give them a little status report on how the Phantom Thieves' mission went on. The report was rather brief. But still, that earned him some compliments regarding how he refrained himself from overcommitting in assisting the Phantom Thieves. To which, he explained that the area they're fighting disallowed him to take too many actions. He also told them about Black Mask, his attempt at attacking him, and his real identity. It's the first time the Velvet Siblings heard of another lone Persona-user in quite some time so they didn't know what to make of him yet, but advised Minato to be more careful in the future as Black Mask might attack him again upon encounter.

Status report done, he then moved on to his Personas. He realized he was a bit off the pace in terms of Compendium completion and Persona leveling after seeing what the new wild card fight in the museum and having most of his recently acquired Personas in pretty much bare-bones condition as they still needed work to reach full potential. So he decided to make a schedule which included multiple Mementos explorations and Velvet Room visits in successive days to catch up to the new wild card's progress.

With the schedule set, he registered his Personas regardless of their levels and acquired skills. Had he been training a little more frequently, he might already be catching up the the new wild card's progress. But he'd rather not lament on that as it's not the end of the world if he could quickly address the shortcomings.

Next, he wanted to check what Margaret had to offer in terms of her services. He recalled Elizabeth's explanation about Margaret's duty, which involved Skill Cards, so he decided to ask Margaret about it.

"Margaret, what can you do with Skill Cards?"

Before Margaret could answer, she sensed something in Minato's pocket. "May I take a look at what you're carrying?"

Minato reached into his pocket and pulled out four blank cards he obtained in Mementos. He handed one of them to Margaret for her to examine.

"Ah, this is just what I needed." Margaret smiled.

"What does it do? I found them lying around in Mementos." Minato asked.

"Allow me to explain... Aside from teaching skills to Personas, I can also extract them into these blank cards in your possession." Margaret pointed to the blank card in her hand. "I call this particular method 'Skill Extraction'."

That was new knowledge for Minato, but also quite timely introduced. He had been looking for ways to mitigate Orpheus' down side which was a weakness to two types of elements, Electricity and Curse.

"Bear in mind that only one skill can be extracted from one Persona. In exchange, the Persona from which the skill is extracted will be lost forever. So it's important for you to choose the Persona and the skill you want to extract wisely." Margaret continued.

None of Minato's Personas gifted him skill cards as of yet, but the "Skill Extraction" method could prove to be useful. As he planned earlier, he wanted to mitigate Orpheus' down side and chose to try doing something about its weakness to Curse. He knew Incubus had the Dodge Curse skill, so he decided to use it as fodder. He had it re-summoned and immediately gave it to Margaret to begin the process.

Margaret laid out the Incubus card and the blank card on the table. She then raised her hand, which levitated both cards. A different spell circle from the one Elizabeth used for fusions appeared, and both cards crashed, merging into a Skill Card which read Dodge Curse and its description. It turned out perfect, and Minato asked Margaret to teach it to Orpehus. The process was as instant as snapping a finger, and soon enough the skill "Dodge Curse" was inserted into Orpheus' list of skills.

Minato was satisfied with the result. He thanked Margaret for the help, and made a mental note to use her services more frequently in the future.

After all that, he decided that would be all for the Persona-related business. But he wasn't done yet. He took Elizabeth's hand and pulled her out of her seat and then into the bar in which they sat together hand-in-hand.

"I'm sorry for not visiting for quite some time..." Minato started. "...you miss me?"

"Yes, dearly." Elizabeth pulled Minato for a kiss, then continued talking. "It has been quite a while since your last visit, no...?"

For quite some time, they didn't really talk, just enjoyed each other's company. They would shift closer to each other and cuddled as they try to make small talks and laugh at them. Eventually they were getting a little embarrassed doing it in front of Margaret who was currently running the bar. From the look on her face, it looked like she was holding back from throwing a Megidolaon at the two love birds. They stopped the cuddles as Elizabeth cleared her throat and straightened her posture as she seemed to have something in her mind.

Minato decided to talk first. "By the way, anything new?"

"Well yes... I believe there are rare Personas that can be obtained during certain conditions."

"What kind of rare Personas?"

"From what I can gather, these Personas are some of the most well-rounded in terms of abilities. They also carry more resistances than the average Personas, even the weakest ones."

"That's...new..." Minato held his chin on his fingers. The "well-rounded" part gained his interest. "So where do I find these rare Personas?"

"These Personas can be found in the Metaverse, generally. But as they are rare, they might take some time to find. Coincidentally, it appears the weather forecast plays a large part in their frequency of appearance. For instance, the number of presence may increase should you conduct explorations during a bad weather, like in the rain." Theo answered.

"Consider it our request... We ask that you bring one to us for, as they say it, 'research purposes'. We apologize for our lack of information in relation to their identification. A fitting reward will be given for completing the request." Margaret continued.

"Try to find them when it's raining or worse..." Minato noted. "Alright. I'll do it."

"Wonderful!" Elizabeth smiled. "For your information, this request has no specific time limit..."

"I'll try to get them as fast as I can..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato's list of Personas as of the end of this chapter:  
> >Lv32 Orpheus  
> Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda, Endure, Maragion, Marakukaja, Fire Boost, Dodge Curse (skill card)  
> >Lv12 Genbu  
> Skills: Bufu, Rakunda, Dia, Resist Confuse, Patra, Mabufu, Resist Forget, Defense Master  
> >Lv10 Kelpie  
> Skills: Lunge, Garu, Skull Cracker, Apt Pupil, Resist Brainwash, Sukukaja, Terror Claw  
> >Lv13 Hua Po  
> Skills: Agi, Dormina, Sukunda, Rakunda, Tarunda, Resist Forget, Maragi  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Burn Boost  
> >Lv12 Succubus  
> Skills: Marin Karin, Rebellion, Zio, Eiha, Evil Touch, Agi, Dekaja, Brainwash Boost, Mudo  
> >Lv10 Saki Mitama  
> Skills: Bufu, Energy Drop, Wind Wall, Resist Sleep, Growth 1, Rakukaja, Resist Dizzy  
> >Lv5 Agathion  
> Skills: Zio, Baisudi, Dia, Lunge  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Rakukaja, Dodge Elec  
> >Lv12 Kodama  
> Skills: Garu, Rakunda, Psi  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Evil Touch, Tarukaja, Fear Boost, Resist Fear  
> >Lv6 Bicorn  
> Skills: Lunge, Tarunda, Garu  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Ice Wall, Apt Pupil  
> >Lv7 Silky  
> Skills: Bufu, Dormina, Dia  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Patra, Sharp Student  
> >Lv15 Inugami  
> Skills: Giant Slice, Pulinpa, Tarukaja, Dream Needle  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Lucky Punch, Brain Shake, Confuse Boost


	13. Cooldown to Confession

Sunday. May 29th, 2017.

While Minato was dealing with Metaverse-related stuff and school over the past week, his hometown's baseball team, the Moronamin-G Moonlight, were in town. This time for a series of four games against the other Tokyo team, the Ordyne Troopers. The game that afternoon would be the final one of the series. And since he had nothing else better to do, he decided to go to the game.

He took out the Moonlight jersey he bought the other day. It's the same one that he saw Junpei and his teammates wore when he first saw them on TV. Upon closer look, it revealed a few more intricate details. The back of the collar had a graphic print of the moon phases, and the bottom part of the back of the jersey bore a water print of the team's namesake, the Moonlight Bridge.

After taking care of a the laundry in the morning, he set off to his destination for the day, the Tokyo Big Egg Stadium, home of the Ordyne Troopers. It's one of the few places he hadn't gone to in the city. The first pitch itself was scheduled at just after lunchtime.

One of the things he'd come to appreciate lately was how useful internet had become and how practical everything was operated compared to 2009. Back then, he had to look up the route in the station whenever he wanted to go someplace he'd never been. But here, he reached the Tokyo Big Egg Stadium quite easily by simply relying on the map application on his phone to show him the way.

The Tokyo Big Egg Stadium itself played hosts to a lot of events annually aside from the Troopers' home games. Music concerts, football games, extreme sports events, and professional wrestling shows were held there.

As he walked up to the ticket booth, he bumped into Tony, wearing the home team's jersey.

"Yuki...?" Tony approached Minato and pulled out his hand for a shake. "Heh, I knew you're gonna come to one of the games."

"It's my hometown team, after all..." Minato shook Tony's hand.

"So you haven't got a ticket, dude?" Tony glanced at the ticket booth

"No, I haven't..." Minato started walking towards the ticket booth. He could've bought the ticket online but he forgot about it.

"Dude, I got a spare ticket here. Why don't you have it?" Tony stopped Minato and pulled out two tickets.

Minato pulled out his wallet to pay Tony the ticket. He'd feel bad if he just accepted it for free.

"Dude, it's free... I'm giving it to you." Tony shoved one ticket into Minato's hand. "I'm not that evil to be reselling tickets to a friend, unless your name is Kenta Konoe..." Tony said playfully while referring to Konoe who was the fan of the other Tokyo team.

The two opposing fans entered the stadium and took a seat next to each other in a very good spot overlooking the entire stadium from the foul line.

The game started out in a stalemate for the first three innings. But then the floodgates opened as soon as they reach the fourth inning. The hosts jumped to a narrow 2-1 lead after the end of the fourth inning. Then came the top of fifth inning. The Moonlight had registered a runner on the second base with two outs when Junpei stepped up to the plate for his second at-bat. Even with Minato's rather sparse knowledge of baseball, he could see that Junpei was facing a formidable pitcher who had struck out six batters prior to his turn.

The first pitch was a slider which missed the strike zone. The second pitch was a corner fastball which Junpei swung and missed for his first strike. He let go of a curveball which landed just slightly off the bottom of the strike zone. The the pitcher threw a hot zone fastball which Junpei managed to hit, but landed outside of the field of play for a foul. The next pitch was an unusually slow sinker, which Junpei hit again. It went very high up, and looked to be going for a homerun. But then as it almost reached the back of the field, it flew past the foul line for another foul.

From what Minato could gather, he could deduce that other teams probably had known of Junpei's habit of going for broke whenever he's collected two strikes. The pitcher knew that, and tried to bait Junpei into hitting with a corner fastball which he missed earlier. Junpei decided to let it go, and fortunately for him, it missed the strike zone, but just. The home crowd thought that was it as they all sighed out of aggravation.

One of the things Minato seemed to notice from the pitcher was that his favorite pitch would come as a last resort. It was the same pitch that struck out four previous batters. He threw the pitch, which was a changeup. Unfortunately for the pitcher, that pitch was what Junpei was really after and he hit it clean. The ball flew high to left center field and hit the fence just one feet shy from the top. That allowed the second base runner to make a dash home while Junpei replaced him in the same spot. He wanted to run for a triple but the on-field coach told him to stop running as he reached the second base otherwise he could have been tagged out. Despite only scoring a double, it was a good stint from Junpei as he added another one to his run-batted-in tally. It also managed to wear out the pitcher as he had to bait him with a few difficult pitches and added to his pitch count for the day. The score was level at 2-2. Unfortunately, the next batter was useless, and got struck out, ending the top of fifth inning.

Over the next two innings, both teams traded hits and runs. The Moonlight looked to be in control up to the seventh inning as they finally leapfrogged the Troopers with a 5-3 scoreline. But then the eighth inning gave birth to a two-run rally by the Troopers which leveled the score back to 5-5.

"This has been a really good series so far, dude..."

Minato had read up about the previous three games in the series which ended with one win for the visitors and two for the hosts. But surprisingly, none of them ended in blowouts as the three previous scorelines read 4-2, 0-2, and 3-4 respectively. Junpei himself recorded three RBI and two runs, but no homerun yet.

"Yeah..."

Then came the final inning. The Moonlight bat first, and Junpei was the first to step up to the plate. The starting pitcher had been replaced by a relief pitcher after the seventh inning.

Junpei missed an obvious ball in the rather low curveball, but then he saw a hot zone fastball which he pounced on immediately. The ball flew high just like last time, and this time the ball was well over the fence in the center for a solo homerun. That home run silenced the crowd as he ran the bases and was given the silent treatment by his teammates before they all embraced him. Well, all but Minato, though. Yes, his reactions to things were usually muted, but he didn't hide his ecstasy over Junpei scoring a homerun which he truthfully deserved to get. He applauded as Junpei made his way around the bases until he got back to the team dugout.

"That Iori guy is good...I'll give you that." Tony was understandably dejected after the homerun, but he didn't fail to acknowledge the formidable opponent they faced and threw compliments. "But overall, your team have been doing well. Not many teams have pushed us this far at home before... Not bad for an expansion team."

Minato nodded. He appreciated Tony's good gesture.

The rest of the visitors' batting stint didn't produce anything significant. There was a base hit scored by the next batter but then the top of the batting order got decimated with a strike out and a double play, ending the inning with a 6-5 score for the visitors.

"If this keeps up, your team should make the playoffs..."

Then came the bottom of the ninth inning. The crowd suddenly became loud as they looked to not only level the scoreline, but walk it off with a win. The dome felt like a real hostile territory for Minato for the first time.

But it looked like the game was slipping away for the hosts as unexpectedly the first batter got struck out. The second batter fared a lot better, scoring a single which livened up the crowd. The next one only managed to hit the ball as far as the shortstop. But the shortstop bobbled the catch and only managed to dismiss one of the two runners. That bobbled catch seemed to have shifted the momentum completely to the hosts' favor. The chants got more vicious, the drums got louder, and maintaining the narrow lead became harder under that atmosphere for the visitors.

The chance for the hosts to walk it off with a two-run homerun bloomed large all of a sudden. The stars were lined up, the momentum was there, and the one assigned with the attempt to walk it off was the hosts' danger man who earlier gave the hosts their first run of the game. Plus, the visitors' relief pitchers had been found out the innings before so the coach assigned none other than Junpei to score a save as they're running out of options. Junpei had stood in as a closing pitcher before but only for a handful of times at home. This would be his first time pitching on the road.

The Junpei he knew used to act recklessly before he was able to get it together close to the end of his previous journey. So he had his reasons to be worried. Sure this wasn't as big as fighting Shadows but still...

Junpei lined up the first pitch, which was a curveball. It landed just below the strike zone. Then he lined up the second pitch, a high fastball - which was popped high but flew past the foul line. Next, he threw a dipping slider which was tipped downwards and landed just out of the field of play. The following pitch was a high slider, which just missed the strike zone to the relief of the home crowd.

Junpei only knew three types of pitches; fastballs, curveballs, and sliders. His options was rather limited but he was going to have to make do. He lined up his next pitch with a high wind-up, and went off the pace with a curveball. Unfortunately the batter hit it clean, but it was only a line drive headed directly back towards its pitcher. Junpei raised his gloved hand to catch it but it skipped off his wrist. The ball looked to fall in between the basemen and the outfielders, but suddenly the second baseman raced back and made an amazing jumping catch, which resulted in the home team's game-ending out.

The home fans collectively groaned in agony as the visiting team rushed towards the game-winning player. They all celebrated in the middle of the field, then shook hands with the home team before bowing towards the crowd. Minato stood up and applauded the visiting team, especially Junpei who did his best. He didn't sense any kind of hesitation or anxiousness in his old friend on the mound.

As Minato and Tony exited the stadium, they received a message from a group chat they and Konoe formed.

**\- IM CHAT LOG -**

**[Unnamed Group]  
Me; Kenta Konoe, "Tony" Tonoguchi**

**Konoe:** I take it you two are at the game?

**Me:** Yeah...

**Tony:** Yeah, why?

**Konoe:** Hey, Tony...

**Konoe:** HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

**Tony:** Calm down.

**Tony:** Your team got spanked for the whole Golden Week by the same team, you know...

**Tony:** At least our series ends up tied at 2-2.

**Konoe:** Awww...

**Konoe:** Screw it. Let me just bask in this schadenfreude for a while.

**Tony:** Do what you want...

**Konoe:** By the way Yuki, that Iori guy is good...

**\- CHAT LOG END -**

Minato closed the chat screen and put his phone back in the pocket. Shortly after exiting the stadium, he parted ways with Tony and went home.

* * *

The Phantom Thieves received word that Madarame had suddenly fallen ill the day after they took his Treasure. It's somewhat a reminiscent of what happened to Kamoshida, which explained why he was missing shortly after his Treasure was taken as well. They knew they did it right, but it's still making them worry. That evening, Yusuke called to Akira to give a heads up.

_"I'm calling about Madarame's state...for the time being he hasn't suffered a mental shutdown._ _Other than that, his demeanor seems to have softened a bit. Is that...the change of heart?"_

"It could be... Kamoshida had a somewhat similar response before he confessed."

Since Akira brought up Kamoshida... _"I was curious and looked into Kamoshida as well. It's as if he was an entirely different person. Will the same be true for Sensei...?"_

"Let's be positive about it."

_"You're right... I'm sorry to have taken your time. That's all I wanted to tell you. Good night."_

With that, Akira hung up the phone. Without Morgana pestering him about going to sleep, he decided to go see what he could do for the evening as he needed to keep tabs with a lot of people.

Monday. May 30th, 2017.

It had only been less than three months since Minato got resurrected and moved to Tokyo. So far, he had been to a lot of the city, and had listed the places he wanted to go to with when he finally got a chance to take Elizabeth out on a date.

However, a fitness center was not the first place Minato had in mind if one were to ask where he'd like to go to. And yet, there he was, with his two trusty chaperone. They talked about working out together the night before, and agreed to do it that day. As of that moment, they just arrived at the destination Tony had selected.

"Hey, Tony." Konoe looked at the door they're currently standing in front of. "...can't we just go to a gymnasium instead? I'd rather be playing with some balls."

"Dude, first of all, context..." Tony commented. "Second, there are only three of us. We can't properly play any team sports with just three people."

"You don't understand... I hate these kinds of exercise. It's just running, lifting weights... What's the purpose?" Konoe retorted. "With a ball in my hands or feet, I have a purpose."

"What kind of purpose?" Tony found what Konoe said about "purpose" rather strange.

"I can throw it into a basket, kick it into a goal, hit it over a net, out of the park... That's the kind of 'purpose' I look for." Konoe explained the "purpose" he meant.

"What we're about to be doing also has a 'purpose', you know..." Tony challenged Konoe's case. "You said it yourself that you haven't been working out lately and you're feeling out of shape. Well, here I am taking you to a place where we can work out and get back in shape. If you're out of shape, you won't even last in a pickup game."

"But..." Konoe wanted to argue, but finding himself concurring with what Tony just said. "Fine... We're already here anyway, so might as well get in."

"That's the spirit!" Tony grabbed Konoe by the shoulder. "Come on! It's on me!"

Minato was well aware that despite his abilities, he was essentially starting from scratch in terms of fitness levels. So far, his rather pedestrian level of fitness hadn't hamper anything yet. But the soon increasing frequency of Metaverse outings meant his current shape would quickly overwhelm him the deeper he went.

That was his purpose of joining Konoe and Tony working out in a fitness center. Aside from the fact that he had never been into one, he was also aiming to work on his stamina. Riding a motorcycle for a couple of hours while slaying Shadows inside an atmospherically oppressive world wasn't for the weak.

Even so, exploring Mementos on foot was not something Minato would like to do despite aiming to achieve the level of fitness he used to possess. The size of just one area in Mementos was too big to be efficiently explored on foot unlike Tartarus where he could just run up the floors then repeat without worrying about the Reaper showing up when he scoured floor after floor thoroughly.

Plus, unlike the Phantom Thieves, he worked alone. To make up for the lack of personnel on his end, working on getting back in shape didn't sound like a bad idea.

The whole exercising thing reminded him of Akihiko, whose dorm room also doubled as a mini fitness center with all the equipment he had in there. Even after Mitsuru's protests in the fear that the floor might gave way, he didn't move them out of the room. Furthermore, he often talked about exercising in a way or another whenever they had off days. Not to mention the occasional talk about nutrition, but mostly about protein, which made Shinjiro livid and sometimes steered others away from having a conversation with him.

Inside the rather pedestrian-looking fitness center, there were various instruments intended for different purposes. As he was aiming to get his stamina up, he looked past the weights and training benches and hopped on one of the treadmills. Having known that there was a dirt cheap fitness center he could go to, he made the place his after school destination to train himself for the week before he plunged back into Mementos.

Friday. June 3rd, 2017.

Akira and Ryuji were at a fitness center smack in the middle of Shibuya. Apparently, Ryuji used to work out there before everything turned upside down for him. He figured he'd take Akira there to work out with him since there's too much distraction at the school, mainly from those who were still bitter at him for causing the disbanding of the track team.

"Phew..." Ryuji coughed and wheezed after the two of them just finished their workout. "My form's...comin' back... But I don't got...any stamina..." Ryuji coughed some more.

"Maybe we shouldn't have...started off with something that tough..." Akira too was grasping for breath.

"You're...right..." Ryuji stood up. "These things take time..."

"Sakamoto?" A voice called him out from the distance. It turned out to be a recently graduated upperclassman.

"Ikeda-senpai! Goornin'" Ryuji stood straight up, facing the source of the voice.

"Don't you mean 'good morning'?" Ikeda replied.

"By the way, it's not morning right now, Ryuji..."

"Haha, you're as eloquent as ever, Sakamoto."

"Heck yeah, man! I've been studyin' my words 'n shit!"

"Of course you have...haha." Ikeda embraced Ryuji by his shoulders as they laughed in unison. "Oh, and you don't need to call me senpai anymore. I've already graduated, remember?"

"Gonna take time to get used to that..." Ryuji smiled. It's apparent that he respected this Ikeda guy. And from the look of it, he didn't seem to have bitter feelings towards Ryuji.

"Hm? Haven't seen you before... Were you on a track team?" Ikeda turned to Akira.

"Him? He's...uh, a friend." Ryuji answered.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kurusu. I just recently transferred to Shujin." Akira introduced himself.

"I see..." Then Ikeda remembered hearing the word on Akira's admission at Shujin. "Wait, aren't you the transfer student with a criminal record?"

"Words sure travel fast..." Akira shrugged. "But I'm OK now. Ryuji here has been looking after me."

"Dude..." Ryuji blushed, but then shrugged it off. "Well, by the time he showed up, the track team was already...well, y'know..." Ryuji frowned.

"Speaking of which, how's your leg?"

"Eh, I'm managin'..." Ryuji flicked his feet to show he's doing fine. "How 'bout you, senpai? You still runnin'?"

"I actually joined my university's track team. You'd think I would've quit entirely after what happened..."

"About that, I'm real sorry..." It took him back to the time when he and Kamoshida had a fallout, which put him in his current circumstances.

"No, I should be the one apologizing."

"Whaddya mean?"

"I was supposed to be the leader of our team, yet I just resigned myself to Kamoshida's will..."

"That's 'cause you needed him to write your letter of rec, right?" Ryuji pointed. "You were just lookin' out for your future, Ikeda-sen, er, Ikeda-san...but I still managed to eff it up anyways."

"Kamoshida clearly never intended on writing my letter of recommendation. You were just his excuse not to." Ikeda explained. "And honestly, I enjoy where I am right now. The track team isn't anything special, but it's perfect for me. So in truth, I should be thanking you for what you did, Sakamoto."

"Senpai..."

"I've always regretted not doing more to protect you guys..." "But I heard some good news recently... The Shujin track team's being reinstated!"

"For real!?" Ryuji was taken aback. "You knew 'bout this, Akira?"

"I didn't hear anything, unfortunately."

"I mean, Kamoshida confessed all the horrible stuff he did, right? I guess the school got the old team together and told them they want to try starting it up again."

"...Nobody told me about that." Inside, Ryuji was glad about the track team being reinstated. But on the other hand, there's a conflicting feeling welling up.

"Huh, odd. The rumors got as far as me, and I'm not even a student anymore. Anyway, I heard they're going to get Mr. Yamauchi as their new advisor."

"Yamauchi...? Wait, THAT Yamauchi!?"

"Yup, Yamauchi a.k.a. Kamoshida's lapdog. Apparently he volunteered. He's really enthusiastic about pulling the track team up from the ashes."

"So the track team's comin' back..."

"Why don't you go talk to them? They could use someone with your passion." Ikeda turned around. Apparently he just came and wanted to go work out right away. "I got some workout to do. Let's talk again some time, Sakamoto."

Before actually leaving, he tapped Akira in the shoulder. "He might be a bit...rough, but his heart is in the right place. You two should get along just fine..."

"I can see that..." Akira nodded.

"..and about your criminal record, that sucks. But the only way to go is up." Ikeda finally left to work out at the other end of the room. "Later, you two."

"...Good for them..." Ryuji murmured.

"Do you want to rejoin?" Akira asked.

"I dunno." Ryuji was still trying to swallow the news. "For real though. I'm glad the team's comin' back. It's sweet that Nakaoka and them can start trainin' again. But I'm still worried 'bout their advisor, Yamauchi. He's basically like a mini-Kamoshida."

"So he's short?"

"That ain't what I meant!" Ryuji knew Akira was just joking with him, but he had come to appreciate it as a mood lightener. "He's like Kamoshida, but MORE of a loser! He'd always yell at us at practice, but then be a huge kiss-ass when our parents were around."

Ryuji was none too pleased about having someone who had the same character as Kamoshida taking care of the track team. Those bitter feelings might not go away anytime soon, but Ryuji was keen to do something for them to make sure they could run the new team in peace.

"He's gotta be up to somethin'. I'll do a research... There's a chance I'm gonna need your help too, mkay? You'd be free to lend me a hand if I need it, yeah?"

"You got it, Ryuji." AKira nodded while patting Ryuji in the back.

"I'll be countin' on you!"

Akira sensed his bond with Ryuji getting deeper. After a few stagnate meetings, the bond had finally strengthened some more.

"All right, we don't got time to be messin' around here anymore! Let's head home!" Ryuji then realized they're both all sticky and sweaty. "Wait, I gotta shower first..."

"Same here..."

"By the way, that guy over there's pluggin' it away hard..." Ryuji glanced at a treadmill near them which a bluenette was using, just next to where Ikeda was exercising.

"Really? I didn't notice that."

* * *

Minato was gasping for breath after he was finally done getting through the paces on the treadmill for the day. It turned out envisioning himself running up Tartarus was a very good idea. That allowed him to somewhat focus on trying to last as long as he could on the treadmill. Yes, it was lacking the occasional stop to take down Shadows but the running bit was worth it. On his first day training, he only managed about twenty minutes. That day, that duration had extended to about thirty minutes.

However, on the other hand, his imagination training made him miss his old friends more than anything else. He had to admit, even though becoming the Great Seal was ultimately his choice to make sure everyone could live on, he didn't want to leave those old friends he considered to be his family. He skirted it aside for the time being, and went to take a shower before going home.

As he stepped inside his apartment, he just realized he had been slacking off in cleaning up. He wanted to do it right there and then but he was so tired it felt like he was dragging himself. His apartment was none too messy, but delaying in cleaning it would mean he had to spend the weekend cleaning up, which wasn't ideal as he planned on doing other things.

He took a pamphlet that was left inside his mailbox that morning. It's apparently the advertisement for a maid service. He decided to give it a try although the whole premise sounded sketchy as hell. The old Junpei would be jumping around if he's handed one of those pamphlets. He dialed the number and gave it a call.

_"Thank you for calling! This is Victoria's Housekeeping!"_ A man's voice was heard from the other end. _"I take it you're interested in our service?"_

"Yeah..." He replied.

_"Are you a first-timer?"_

"Yeah..."

_"Very well... Is there anyone in particular you'd like to request?"_

That reminded him of Ms. Kawakami. He wanted the agency to send someone at random, but it'd be more credible if he just decided to let an acquaintance take his order. He tried to recall Ms. Kawakami's maid nickname as she spilled it out once before.

"Do you have someone named Becky?"

_"Yes... From who did you hear that specifically?"_

"From a friend..." He had to talk his way through it. "Is she available?"

_"You're in luck! She's currently at a shift but she'll be available for her next one!"_

"Then send her here once she's done." He finalized the request as he gave the answering personnel his address.

_"You're in an even better luck! Coincidentally, she happens to be working in the area. She will arrive at your place in the next hour. Thank you for using our service!"_

He hung up the phone and took a shower as he waited for the maid to come.

...

...

...

"Good evening... It's Becky from the housekeeping service." Minato was watching TV when the bell rang. He walked up to the door and opened it. His maid service had just arrived.

"Yuki-kun!?" "Becky" almost screamed before she gasped and held herself at the sight of another high school student from the other side of the door. She sighed as she composed herself. "I can't believe it... Two high school students in a row..."

"...Please come in." He shuffled aside to let her in. He wanted to know more but he didn't really care. However, the thought of the new wild card being the first high school student to request her specifically crossed her mind. The perks of a wild card; being thrust into the weirdest circumstances in life to get stronger, he deduced.

"Did you request me specifically?"

He did, but using the benefit of the doubt, he chose to lie about requesting her with a shake of the head.

"They said you did..." She chose to let it slide while looking around Minato's apartment. "So this is your apartment, huh...? And you live alone?"

He only nodded.

"Hmm..." She was about to sound an opinion but decided to take it back. "I saw the midterm results... I'd say I'm surprised. For someone who just recently got out of a long hospital stay, it looks like you didn't even lose an edge. It's a little overblown, but...no one managed to top Niijima-kun before. So for a transfer student, you're doing a great job."

"Um, thanks..." He wondered why she told him all that.

"That being said...you ignored my warning, called the maid service, and requested me?"

To be fair, she did warn him. But... "I wouldn't be doing this if I'm not tired..."

"I see..." Knowing that, she got to work and switched to maid mode. "Oh my! I should explain our services to you first, Master! The basics include cooking, cleaning, laundry...if you desire, there are other 'services', meow!"

The other "services" she implied made Minato shudder. Some admittedly dirty ideas crossed his mind but he quickly skirted them. He knew it's indecent to propose those ideas, especially since he's a high school student and the maid tending to him was a teacher at school. Not to mention Elizabeth might throw a Megidolaon at him if she found out he tried anything funny.

"So what would it be, Master?"

"This place needs cleaning, that's all..."

"Very well, Master!"

He still couldn't get used to that side of Ms. Kawakami, maybe he never would. It's a complete 180 of how she usually was at school, which kind of reminded him of himself.

Since the apartment was small, it didn't take too long for her to do the cleaning. Besides, according to her, it's not that dirty. Thirty five minutes into the shift, the apartment was pretty much all cleaned up. He had to admit, she did a really good job.

She could afford to rest as she still had some time before the shift ended. Knowing that, he grabbed some iced tea and cake from the fridge, then put them on the table. She looked a little deprived and could use some refreshments, after all.

"You don't have to, Master..."

He didn't reply, instead grabbed his own glass of iced tea and drank it as he sat down at the opposite side of the table. "Becky" sighed as she laid off the maid mode and took her own glass of iced tea and some cake.

She watched TV while enjoying the refreshments, and sometimes glanced at him who alternated between sipping the tea, looking at his phone, and fiddling with his MP3 player.

"Those are pretty old, not to mention rare thesedays..." She looked at his combination of MP3 player and the pair of round, metallic ear-clip earphones attached to it. He too seemed to realize that quite some time ago. Those earphones alone had been discontinued for years, along with the MP3 player. The reason itself eluded him as people seem to prefer in-ear earphones or on-ear headphones. "Do they still work?"

He nodded. They're his only keepsakes from even before he moved back to Iwatodai years ago. So far, another item had found its way into his heart, the Evoker. But no one in his current life should ever know about that. The room fell into another silence shortly after.

She broke the silence again a few minutes later, wanting to talk about another glaring topic. "Doesn't that hair get in the way? I mean, it covers half of your face, Yuki-kun."

"It's fine, sensei..." He revealed his right eye to show nothing was wrong. He wasn't a stranger to hair-related questions. Some of his classmates also asked him about it to the extent of trying to find out if he had sight disorders, to which he responded the same way he just did while phrasing whatever writing he saw to prove everything was fine. Strangely enough no school authorities ever forced him to get a haircut over the years, even at Gekkoukan and Shujin. He knew people usually hid their eyes in the event of contracting sight-related disorders, but not him. His eyes were fine, so there was no need for any accessories. The bottom line was he had grown to like it.

"I would've forced you to get a haircut, but looks like you're fine with it..." She smirked.

The minutes flew by as the both of them finished the refreshments. Then the agency contacted her, telling her the pickup had arrived, signalling the shift was finally over, which also marked the cue for her to call it a day.

"It'll be 5000 yen with the request fees included..."

He gave her the 5000 yen and walked her out. But before she actually left she gave him her contact information.

"This is my address and phone number. The more you request from the agency, the more info they have, and the more possibility of them finding out you're a high school student..." She explained which he only replied with a nod. He had to admit she had a point. He would only request her to do the housekeeping service so there's no need to go through the hassle of calling the agency when he could just call her personally. Having the agency find out high school students requested her would put both her night job and day job in jeopardy. Even then, he's not planning to abuse it.

"Two high school students know about my night job..." She sighed. "What happened to the 'it's none of my business' part, by the way?" She recalled what he said the first time they bumped into each other at night.

"I'm not that apathetic..." He replied. "Not anymore..." If this was him before he awakened his Persona eight years ago it would've ended a lot differently.

She was glad he actually took the advice to dial back at his rudeness. "That means you do care and you can keep a secret, right?"

He firmly nodded.

She felt she could hold on to it, so she decided to give something back. "In exchange, if you ever get in trouble, I'll help you. Ms. Chouno is quite unforgiving, you see. She doesn't take kindly to those who get her in trouble with the principal. However, I reserve to change my mind if your grades drop."

He nodded again. He wouldn't have guessed that out of his homeroom teacher since she had been nice to him. Anyhow, he's trying to keep a low profile, but knowing that a teacher had his back put his mind at ease. The only catch was he must keep his grades up, something frankly manageable for him. "Thanks, sensei."

"Then it's a deal!" She smiled. "Well, I guess I should get going... Please request me if you need any help with your housework, OK?"

She switched back to her maid mode to bid farewell after stepping out of the door. "Thank you for using our service..."

* * *

Saturday. June 4th, 2017.

Akira's phone rang. It's from the Phantom Thieves' group chat window.

**\- IM CHAT LOG -**

**[PTs]  
Me; Ryuji Sakamoto; Ann Takamaki; Yusuke Kitagawa**

**Ann:** The exhibition ends tomorrow... Madarame must have had his change of heart by now, right?

**Ryuji:** I'm sure it'll be fine.

**Ryuji:** So far nobody's come charging us with anything, yeah?

**Ann:** But wouldn't he wait to press charges until AFTER the exhibition?

**Ann:** What should we do if someone contacts us about it tomorrow...?

**Ryuji:** Try asking Yusuke. He's still staying with Madarame, right?

**Ann:** Oh, that's right... Where's Yusuke?

**Ann:** I wonder if he'll be OK with Madarame...

**Yusuke** : Sorry I'm late to contact you all.

**Yusuke:** It seems something will certainly be happening tomorrow. Madarame is on the phone as we speak.

**Me:** With who?

**Yusuke:** Likely the media. I haven't heard anything in this conversation about pressing charges.

**Ryuji:** Guess we just gotta wait then.

**Yusuke:** Let us meet in Shibuya tomorrow.

**Me:** Good idea.

**Ann:** OK! See you then!

**\- CHAT LOG END -**

"The exhibition is finally ending tomorrow... I'm sure things will work out this time too." Morgana meowed from over the shoulder.

"Let's hope so..." Akira nodded.

It seemed like they're doing it right, considering Madarame recovered from his illness. But even if Morgana said the change of heart was a surefire thing, they were still reasonably nervous. He might confess and press charges at the same time. All they could do was wait.

Sunday. June 5th, 2017.

That morning, Minato had just finished taking care of the laundry. He was back in his apartment, and wanted to watch some TV. Apparently, the channel he just tuned in to was airing a Featherman series from years ago, back when he was dead. It was right about the middle of the current episode which showed a scene of the Feathermen just transforming to fight their enemies.

_"Phoenix Ranger...Featherman Victory!"_

Apparently that's also the name if the series, which was a sequel to the Featherman R series which he used to sparingly watch back in the day. He's indifferent about it, but it made for a great bonding moment with his old friends during Sunday mornings.

_"Merlion! The evil forces of FALLEN stop here!"_

Granted, he's not a sentai expert, but it felt weird for the first time seeing a Featherman not wearing red assuming leadership of the group. Not to mention the leader was a female. He had heard about some guys talking about it at school, mentioning that it's breaking sentai norms among other things. He watched on as they Feathermen charged in, brandishing their weapons.

_"Merlion! Prepare for justice!"_

The voice of the female wearing pink somewhat reminded him of someone he knew. As he watched the enemy blew the Feathermen to pieces, the camera panned to the Feather Pink's helmet flying off. When the smoke cleared, the view switched to the one behind the mask. She was seen wincing, but still relatively fine as she tried standing up after withstanding the hit.

It's when the camera got closer to the then unmasked Feather Pink, he was presented with one of the most surprising thing ever.

_"Everyone...! I've had enough of this!"_

"Holy shit..."

The neck-length hair remained largely unchanged. The earrings and the heart choker also remained. Her facial and physical features showed that she had aged well, even if the series was from way back.

_"Ultimate Bow!"_

Then one of the mightiest looking bow he'd ever seen materialized in her left hand. She jumped high in the air and aimed it at the enemy.

_"It's over! Miracle Feather Arrow!"_

The enemy had been defeated, and she landed facing away from it. The camera panned closer one last time as an affirmation for him that the one portraying Feather Pink on the screen was indeed Yukari Takeba. What surprised him from it all was that she had become something she never thought she would be able to pull off in the past. It also reminded him of Ken, who was a closet Featherman fan back in the day. He bet Ken was all over her when he found out about her role.

A few minutes later, the episode ended. Apparently Yukari's character was named Reiko Kujakuin, and her call sign was "Argus".

As the credits rolled, something else hit him. Yukari used to mention that she liked kids. And her role as a Featherman was perfect for her as kids must surely loved it. All in all, he showed the same reaction as when he first saw Junpei on TV as a baseball player. The two of them had carried on in his memory, which made him smile sheepishly yet again.

The sun was getting high up. He might not have anything to do, but he decided to roam the town. Maybe he'd find something interesting to do after scouting all the spots.

* * *

People around the crossroads of Shibuya was paying attention to a giant screen on one of the buildings broadcasting what seemed to be a breaking news.

_"I...I have committed crimes that are unbecoming of an artist. Plainly put, I, um...plagiarized work..."_

They watched on as who looked to be Ichiryusai Madarame broke down crying.

_"I...I tainted this...this country's art world...and...even 'Sayuri'..."_

They wondered why and how he actually confessed to all of his crimes.

_"...How could I...possibly...apologize to...everyone for what I've done... Aaaah..."_

When the broadcast was switched back to the newscaster, she mentioned the Phantom Thieves and how it might be connected to them. But one thing was for certain. The Phantom Thieves had made the news. Their work had come to fruition yet again. They had their worries over the past week, but it all turned out well in the end. After watching the news from their temporary meeting spot in the station walkway, they decided to talk about it.

"You guys see the new about Madarame? It's jut like what happened with Kamoshida!"

"And they mentioned the Phantom Thieves."

Ann and Ryuji was ecstatic about it. If only they knew...

"Man, this is starting to get interesting... If we do it right, we can change people's hearts. With this power, we might be able to do more than just gettin' back at society. It'll be a big deal!"

"This is fun, to a degree..." Akira somewhat concurred, although he was reasonable to have his own worries.

"Let's keep pushin' on then."

Ryuji began blabbering about gaining fame as a Phantom Thief. Morgana retorted about their success rate so far, pointing out that it had been too good of a coincidence. Akira credited everyone for their great work together which contributed to their run of form. One thing's for sure, they knew they could use their abilities to help people at large. Everyone agreed on it, even Ryuji.

"We may want to quiet down a little." Yusuke glanced at police officers walking past the walkway. One was wearing a suit, the other was in a uniform. To their surprise, they approached them.

"Ah, yes! How may we help you?"

Her acting was suspect as usual. Morgana began having chills.

"What are you all doing here? Are you friends?" The suit-wearing officer asked.

"Do we look like not friends to you, officer?" Akira responded.

"Hm...? What did you say?" The uniform-wearing officer was getting stern for that response.

"A-ah, That was a joke! He didn't get much sleep last night!" Ann's attempt almost escalated things.

The suit-wearing officer let it slide. "Well, all right. Just make sure you disperse before it gets too late, OK? There have been some odd happenings lately, and the news about that artist has caused quite the stir."

"We'll be careful!"

With that, the two police officers left.

"It's still light out... Man, those guys must have way too much time on their hands."

Ann turned to Akira, who admittedly challenged the police officers.

"Hey! Don't go making stuff up at the spot like that, OK!? I totally panicked 'cause of you!"

"Sorry..." Akira apologized. His sass took over him just then.

"...From now on, we'll need to be even more cautious than before." Morgana was right. They looked unsuspecting, normally, but they need to be less conspicuous about it. All five of them meeting up, congregating as victims from two separate incidents was quickly looking fishy.

"Eh, it'll be fine. Look around. We're the only people worryin' about it." There was Ryuji's nonchalant attitude again.

"I guess you're right..."

They moved on to another topic.

"By the way, Yusuke... You able to get anything out of Madarame? Remember about how he was talkin' about that suspicious person in black mask?"

"Well, I pressed him for answers, but he doesn't even understand what happened to him to begin with."

"It's not like he actually saw his desires get stolen, after all..."

"It's rumored that he may be sent to prison. In that case, gaining information will be difficult."

"So what're you gonna do now?"

"I'll be leaving that house. I can't draw in such a place anymore."

With that, they dispersed out. It's becoming clear that they were gaining heat from the people. Until they found their next target, they just had to keep a low profile.


	14. Social Studies Trip

Thursday. June 9th, 2017.

"...and that's why we recruit sponsors to help make TV shows."

It's day one of social studies trip for the students of Shujin Academy. The students had been dispersed into several groups, each going to different destinations. One group in particular had been given a chance to visit a TV station.

That day, they're being shown around the place, including a studio which was being set up by the crews. The PR woman assigned to show the students around had just finished explaining about commercial breaks and how they helped in funding the programs. After that, she moved on to explaining the rundown of shows aired on the schedule. That also shed light into what shows would go on during the day and night. According to the PR woman, reruns and encores would be aired during the day, and news or special events like sports games would go on at primetime. Weekends also factored into the scheduling, as normally TV stations would either air reruns or something like a game of baseball.

Then again, that much was obvious to anyone.

After some more admittedly arduous explanation, the students were directed for a hands-on experience, which was a glorified term for helping the crews around. Some were enthusiastic about it and some ranged from indifferent to downright irritated about it.

After helping out the crews, the tour for the day was over, and the students were allowed to go straight home. A bathroom break was deemed necessary after all that. So Akira, Ann, and Ryuji dispersed and agreed to meet up somewhere near the restrooms.

"I'm so pissed off! Aren't we supposed to be guests? Why the hell do we hafta doin' manual labor?" Ryuji began ranting as they waited for Ann. "This is bullshit! Goin' to the bathroom didn't make me feel better!"

"Your expectation was way too high..." Akira provided a different angle as Ann walked in from the other side of the corridor.

"Quiet down, will you? I get how you feel though. That sucked for both of us..."

'We gotta do more of this tomorrow too...?" Ryuji pouted.

"No flaking out, Ryuji." Morgana popped in.

"I know, I know. I gotta be a 'good boy', right?" Ryuji kicked his right foot around. "Bein' Phantom Thieves ain't easy..."

"At least you understand, Ryuji." Ryuji was causing a little ruckus back in the studio, but eventually he cooled down because for once he actually remembered what's at stake.

"That reminds me, we don't spend much time in this area, so why don't we relax and check out some shops beforehand?" They were allowed to go straight home. But Ann felt that would be too boring.

That's when Morgana proposed an idea. "Ooh, I know a place! I wanna go to that huge pancake-looking-place we passed on the way here! It looked delicious! What was that?"

Suddenly an unknown person approached them. Morgana slipped back into Akira's bag on cue.

"Cake sounds nice right now..." The person spoke up, sounding pleasant. "I missed lunch today, so I'm quite hungry myself..."

"Huh? Cake? What're you talkin' about? ...and who're you?" Everyone looked confused, aside from the pleasant boy.

"Oh, am I mistaken? I thought I heard about some delicious pancakes..." The pleasant boy was probably mistaken. "Ah, where are my manners? My name is Goro Akechi." Skirting that aside, he decided to introduce himself.

"Akechi...?" It looked like Ann had heard of the name before. Then it hit her. "Oh...!"

"By the way, I couldn't help but notice your uniforms. Are you students of Shujin Academy?"

"Yeah, whaddya want?"

"I happen to be passing by, so it seemed polite to greet you. We'll be filming together after all."

"Filming? What, you a celebrity?"

"Only to the extent of appearing in TV a couple of times." Akechi chuckled. He then pulled out his phone, checking the time. "My apologies, I truly was just passing by. I must be going. There's a briefing for tomorrow's recording that I have to attend. See you tomorrow."

Akechi left everyone with a puzzled look.

"That guy's gotta be some kinda start-up entertainer or something." Ryuji deduced. "He's never gonna get popular with that kinda hair though."

"You don't get it..."

"Eh, it's fine. Well see him again tomorrow anyways." He moved on to the place Morgana mentioned earlier. "That pancake lookin' place... Ohhh, you mean Dome Town?"

"It's right in the middle of a business area..."

"The round part is the Big Egg, a baseball stadium. Then along the outside they've got an amusement park."

"They have some pretty hardcore rides there, too."

"All right, let's go! I'll show you just how courageous I am!" Morgana meowed excitingly.

"Going on a scary ride doesn't really prove any kind of courage." Ann countered.

"Not like cats can get on anyways..."

"Really?" For the first time, Morgana didn't snap upon being referred as a cat.

"You might be able to sneak in if you stay in the bag. But you'd totally puke if you do that." Ryuji was getting excited. So he rallied them to get going. "C'mon, let's go to Dome Town! I'm really feelin' it now! You've never been in this part of Tokyo, right, Akira?"

"Yeah... Please lead the way."

"My stomach's ready for roller coasters!"

"Uhh, I think I'll pass on the puke rides..."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Akira petted Morgana in the head.

After spending the rest of the day at Dome Town, Akira was back in his place. To him, Dome Town was interesting as he got on the many rides in the amusement park, including the roller coaster. The same couldn't be said for Ryuji and Morgana who felt sick after the roller coaster ride. They parted ways after grabbing a bite together.

That night, as usual, he closed up the cafe before going to do anything else. He had some people he planned on meeting up that night, including a politician he recently befriended and helped in his rallies.

"Hmm...let's see who I can meet up with tonight..." Akira checked his phone upstairs.

"Let's not do that today." Morgana interjected.

"But I'm not that tired, Morgana..." Akira rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Just go to sleep!" Morgana hissed. "We still have tomorrow to go through. They're gonna film us at the TV station tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. I wonder who the guests might be. It's a talk show, after all..." Akira nodded as he put his phone down.

"Well, whoever the guests are, try not to stand out too much - that's what Ryuji's for."

Akira could swear Ryuji was probably cursing Morgana from his own place. "We're gonna have to try keeping him down tomorrow..."

Morgana agreed on that.

"So I really can't do anything today? Not even making lockpicks, or even watch a little TV?"

"No." Morgana deadpanned. It's not the first time Akira had to deal with this.

"Fine..." Akira took his glasses off and got changed. Minutes later, he was on his bed and Morgana jumped onto him.

"Let's call it a day. Night, Morgana."

Friday. June 10th, 2017.

It's day two and the final day of the social studies trip.

That day, the group assigned for a tour of the TV station had been scheduled to participate in the recording of a talk show taking place in the same studio the PR woman showed around for them.

Minato was also included in that group at the very last minute. He wasn't given any other choice since they're the only group that could take in one more participant. The other destinations included the museum, the railway company, and a factory out of town.

When they arrived early morning, they're given the same work to help out the crews set up the studio. With more hands helping, the work was done much quicker that it would usually be. The talk show itself was scheduled to be aired just after lunchtime. After the students were treated to a lunch together with the filming team, they all took their seats in the studio as the talk show commenced.

There were several guests set to appear in the talk show that day. But only one of them was the one the student audience actually cared about.

After the break, it was time for said guest to make his appearance.

"Mr. Akechi's coming on!"

The guest, wearing a tan peacoat matched with neck-length brown hair, was welcomed with cheers and chatters by the audience as they're seconds away from getting back on air. He waved at the audience and sat down as the hosts began the segment, accompanied with the standard talk show background music.

"And now, onto the 'Hottest Meet-and-Greet' segment of our show... After his last appearance was so well recieved, we decided to bring back this fine gentleman today. It's the high school detective, Goro Akechi!"

"Hello there." Akechi smiled at the hosts and the audience as cheers got louder before the producer signaled them to be quiet and signaled the sound guy to fade the music away.

"Thank you for taking the time to join us today, Akechi-kun. Can I just say, you look rather different lately..." The male host started. He glanced at Akechi's rather unusual accessories. Minato didn't fail to notice that. Akechi had a band-aid on his cheek and the hand which he sprained during their encounter was covered with bandages instead of a glove. "What happened? Rumors say you had to go to the hospital..."

"Oh, these? I got into an accident on my bicycle the other day. It's all good though... The perpetrator apologized as it was indeed his fault for running the red light. We managed to solve it in a civilized manner. No charges pressed, either. It doesn't hurt that much as of today." Akechi explained. "I'm grateful to be able to make it here despite my injuries."

Minato who sat in the back row knew full well Akechi was lying.

"Yes, we are indeed very glad you can make it. Can I just say, Akechi-kun, your popularity has been rising lately... It's quite stunning."

"Even I've found it to be quite a surprise. It is a bit embarrassing though..." Akechi half-blushed.

"Moving along, we've been told there's a case on your mind right now. Care to share, detective?"

Surely enough, that case was the one that's been booming lately, the plagiarism scandal tied to Ichiryusai Madarame. It's more hammered in by the male host going straight into it, mentioning about the Phantom Thieves immediately.

Minato had been wondering about Akechi's alignment on the back of his head. The hosts might have just helped him by directly asking the guest's opinion on the matter. He also spotted the new wild card and his friends in the row in front of him. He didn't have a choice but to pay attention to those two parties. One party was about to sound his opinion on the Phantom Thieves, and little did they know the other party were Phantom Thieves themselves as part of the audience.

"If they truly are heroes of justice, I sincerely hope they exist." Akechi started.

"Ohh, so you don't deny the possibility that they're real?"

"I may not seem like it, but I sometimes wish that Santa Claus actually existed...although if he did, I'd have to arrest him for breaking and entering."

The audience laughed at the joke, while Minato was indifferent. He didn't really want to take any nonsense from anyone that day. He glanced at the Phantom Thieves to see how they're responding. To his credit, they also acted indifferently even though the blondie was looking rather restless.

"But hypothetically speaking, if these Phantom Thieves are real..." Akechi continued seriously. "I believe they should be tried in a court of law."

That opinion was just what one would expect out of a law enforcement personnel. It didn't get any more textbook than that, even though it held some truth. For Minato, it all but confirmed that the Akechi guy was aligned differently in accordance to the Phantom Thieves. The degree of difference, however, was still up in the air. Or was it just an act, and he beat up someone who actually was trying to help the Phantom Thieves the other day?

"That's quite the statement. Are they committing crimes?"

Minato leaned back while intently watching both parties associated with the current discussion. If only he had some popcorn...

"Some people even say that the Thieves are actually helping their victims abandon their evil ways."

"What the artist Madarame did was truly an unforgivable crime. However, they're taking the law into their own hands by judging him. It is far from justice. More importantly, you should never forcefully change a person's heart."

Again, more opinions expected out of a law enforcement personnel. And again, Minato didn't deny it. He was long aware that the Phantom Thieves were operating at a very narrow gray area. It's easy to get lost and inconsistently sway from one side to the other. For him, that last sentence sounded like Akechi already had some experience in the matter since he's also a Persona-user.

"You have a point. These people are calling themselves the Phantom Thieves, after all. Amazing as always, Akechi-kun! I could listen to you for days! You have the most radiant charisma!"

"I have to say though, I would be embarrassed if it turns out these Phantom Thieves don't exist. If that was the case, I'd summarize it into a report as a school project."

The audience laughed some more. Minato really couldn't care less about the attempted wittiness.

The segment was moving along nicely by TV standards. The female host decided it's the best timing to ask the audience about the matter.

"Now then, let's try asking some students the same age as Akechi-kun about the Phantom Thieves!"

The crew directed the audience to use the vote buttons attached to their seats.

"First, please press your button now if you think the Phantom Thieves exist."

Minato predicted a majority of the students would vote no, so he decided to follow suit to look less conspicuous. By the time he's done with maintaining his anonymity in the shadows, he might owe the Phantom Thieves loads and loads of apology.

The poll result read around 30% of the audience voted yes. That in itself was just about right from Minato's perspective. For the talk show guest...

"I'm a bit surprised. That's higher than what I was expecting." Akechi looked surprised. "I'd like to hear some more detailed opinions on the Phantom Thieves' actions."

As if given cue, the female host stood up and walked towards the audience carrying a mic. A cameraman followed suit and kept panning at her.

Normally it's one of those moments where one would go "Ooh, pick me! Pick me!". But for Minato, it's the exact opposite. Luckily, looking dead and uninterested was something he automatically excelled at. Not to mention having his face shown on TV would turn some familiar heads and possibly fail the grand assignment he's been given.

He was relieved to see the female host stop midway into the crowd. But on the other hand, she stopped just by the section where the new wild card and his friends were sitting. It just became even more interesting from his perspective.

"All right, let's try asking this student here. Hypothetically speaking, what are your thoughts on these Phantom Thieves, if they were real?"

A question popped into Minato's mind. Would the new wild card see it as an opportunity to advertise himself, or play dumb since his well-being was also somewhat at stake? Doing the former would make him bang his head against the wall, while doing the latter was generally considered the safer option.

"I think they're a necessary evil, think of it as the flip side of a coin... Same goals, different means..."

That earned a chuckle from the brunette, and a rather indifferent look from the bluenette. It sounded like an answer a fan of the Phantom Thieves would provide, except it came out from a Phantom Thief himself.

"I wasn't expecting that."

"This completely goes against the opinion you had about them being tried by law, Akechi-kun."

Akechi continued again. "Indeed. It's rather intriguing to hear such a strong acknowledgement." He then decided to fire another question at the raven-haired student.

"If someone close to you, for example your friend next to you... If his heart suddenly changed...wouldn't you think it was the work of the Phantom Thieves?"

Little did Akechi knew that question hit more than closer to home in a way for his subject. On the other hand, Minato wondered what the new wild card would say to that question. Then...

"What would you think?" The response came rather swiftly, and confidently.

Akechi seemed to welcome the challenge. Minato thought the wild card would somehow stumble and accidentally spill some beans, but he thought firing the question back was a good response. He probably would've done the same in his position. Giving an apathetic response would also be a viable option for him.

"Ah, throwing the question back at me? Well, this is my opinion on the topic."

Akechi supported his chin with his fingers yet again as he began voicing his opinion.

"Whether the Thieves' actions are good or not, I feel there is a more important issue at hand."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"The matter of how they change people's hearts. If they honestly possess that ability...it could be used for more than extracting information. It could that what seem to be ordinary crimes are actually being perpetrated by these methods..."

"You know, you're absolutely right."

Call it a hunch, but Minato felt a strong implication behind what Akechi just said. Granted, Akechi had a point, but to Minato it's a little too detailed to be considered a mere opinion.

"Oh, please don't misunderstand. This is all purely hypothetical... It is only if people who can use such a power truly exist. Either way though, this cannot be ignored. The existence of the Phantom Thieves would be nothing but a threat to our everyday lives."

That earned a collective gasp from the audience. Then again, it's a very good point. Little did everyone else knew it came from someone who was well-versed with the "power".

"To be honest, I'm already working alongside the police to help sort out this matter."

The talk show finally ended a few minutes later and the audience exited the studio. On his way out, Minato was greeted with the sight of both the new wild card and Akechi talking to each other. There's no place where he could eavesdrop safely, so he decided to just pass by them with his earphones on. What he'd learned from the society was that people often used those to shut themselves off the rest of the world for a moment. So he took advantage of that and walked slightly slower than usual in hopes of getting as much as possible.

As he got in closer proximity within the two of them, he began hearing what they're talking about.

"I feel like our discussions could prove quite fruitful. Would you mind talking to me again?"

"Sure... If the opportunity arises."

"Thank you. It makes me glad to hear that. The students from Shujin are truly quite interesting..."

That was all Minato could gather as he walked past them. Even so, it's quite useful. He couldn't help but feel a little concerned for the new wild card. While it didn't sound like Akechi had any harmful intentions, both sides certainly didn't know what might hit them. He was fully aware of the implications, but he couldn't interfere just yet. It's also the first time seeing someone interact peacefully with who could be his potential number one enemy. For the time being, he decided to leave them be. They had just started to get to know each other, after all. There's always a possibility of things changing down the line.

The talk show provided some clues regarding Akechi's alignment, mainly directed to Minato's first question of him, about his stance in accordance to the Phantom Thieves. The fact that he had already requested police assistance meant he's against the Phantom Thieves in a way. The rest of them was still up in the air, however. It could also be implied that there's a special unit in the police force dealing specifically with Persona-related cases, and that Akechi was working for them.

The question was how were they going to uncover what the Phantom Thieves had truly done without taking them to the Metaverse. The concept of the Metaverse, or Personas in general, didn't make sense to just any regular people. In addition, not everyone might be able to contain themselves in that part of the collective unconsciousness.

There was also questions of how the new wild card, his friends, and Akechi, managed to get a Persona in the first place. Minato could simply speak for himself saying that his powers never truly left him and that he had the support of the Velvet Siblings, but how the new Persona-users came to be was still unknown to him. At least with the new wild card, he could argue that the Velvet Room had chosen him, even though according to the Velvet Siblings it's not ran by Igor himself. Everyone else's case, however, remained a mystery.


	15. One (Makoto) Helping Another

Monday. June 6th, 2017.

Minato's after schools in the past week were generally so-so. When he's not going straight home, he hit the fitness center. He missed talking to different people to kill time and get those sweet Social Links ranked up. But even though Elizabeth had deemed it unnecessary for him to forge new bonds, he still hung out with people in his surroundings, yet it still felt different from how it was for him.

Lately, there had been a rather unprecedented source of entertainment for him. Even though Tokyo was big, filled with a lot of spots to go to, the one that currently entertained him the most was one of his classmates at school.

It began when he bumped into Makoto burying her face behind an upside-down magazine. At first, he thought it was just a coincidence but as the days went by it became apparent that she was doing something, not that he didn't sense anything fishy beforehand.

It turned out her antics weren't limited to just in school, too. That day he was feeling curious so he followed her around town. In turned out his first assumption from back then was right. The one she's following was the new wild card, and she wasn't exactly subtle about it as using a tactic from 2009 backfired at her. Whilst trying to keep up with the new wild card, she tripped, bumped into people, the station pillars, the wall, and almost fell down the stairs.

He felt he'd seen enough of her antics as she finally got found out by the new wild card. As the frizzy-haired boy walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the station, he approached her.

"O-oh, it's you..." Makoto turned around, gasping in surprise. "What a coincidence, Yuki-kun... Didn't think we take the same line."

Just like the last time they bumped into each other in practically the same manner, he looked down to the magazine she was holding. The magazine was different. And from the looks of it, she actually was using it correctly.

"Oh, it's a magazine I just picked up yesterday..." Makoto held the magazine up to show it to him. He looked at it closer, and revealed that the explanation checked out. However, it wasn't fooling him.

"Your stalking was murder to watch." Minato immediately pointed.

"It's not stalking per say, I was just following someone to gather information..." Makoto blushed in shame and corrected what Minato just said, but then changed her mind. "I guess it's stalking after all..."

An awkward silence filled the conversation. Minato looked over to the way the new wild card walked off to. Makoto turned around and also looked, only to find the frizzy-haired student nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone..."

Then, in the middle of the station crowd, they both heard a growl. It got Makoto embarrassed as it turned out to be hers. Luckily, they're in the station. There were a lot of shops for them to grab something to eat. In the meantime, they settled for some bread and sat on one of the benches so she could take a break. Since she had been found out, and saw him showing no sorts of ill intent, she decided to come out clean and explain it.

"I was following someone...a Shujin student, to be exact. You've heard of the problem second-year transfer student, haven't you?" Makoto started, with Minato only replying by a nod. "He's the one I was following."

"Why him? And why go so far?"

"The principal tasked me with investigating the Phantom Thieves case after what happened to Mr. Kamoshida. He wanted it to be solved as soon as possible... But until now I haven't been able to uncover much. Getting found out by the one I'm supposed to be following sure didn't help the case..."

Again, he just nodded while chewing his bread. Even though he looked rather nonchalant, she could see that he's paying attention. She decided to continue explaining. He felt somewhat sorry at the fact that she was indeed playing "yes man" to the principal, but he didn't really know how to express it.

"As for why him, well, I only need to look back at what happened during April. No one would've gone out their way to make Mr. Kamoshida confess unless you're a Shujin student who dares opposing him. The second-year transfer student and one of his friend, Sakamoto-kun, fit the profile. You probably heard rumors that they were going to be expelled before the school revoked it upon Mr. Kamoshida's confession." Makoto pointed out with Minato nodding in response. "There's also a third person... I heard from other students that she's close to Mr. Kamoshida, and that the one who attempted suicide was a volleyball club member who's coincidentally her friend. I guess it makes sense for her to get back at Mr. Kamoshida for it."

Minato didn't say anything in return, but he could see that it's not a baseless assumption. In fact, it's quite about right. Although he still didn't think she's managed to fully connect the dots, especially since the recent victim had no semblance of connection towards Shujin. Then again, it's a start.

"Honestly, I didn't think Mr. Kamoshida was that kind of person, so I was completely blind of the real issue until he confessed during that assembly..." Makoto looked depressed, somewhat disappointed as well.

That's when Minato interjected. "We did."

"'We'? What do you mean?" Makoto was surprised hearing that. Then it hit her that Minato was often seen with a pair of peas in a pod. "You, Konoe-kun, and Tony-kun knew? Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"They wanted to gather evidence first...tried snooping around the volleyball practice. Sadly, they failed."

"So that's why they suddenly had bruises all over back then..." Makoto remembered seeing Konoe and Tony coming to school covered in bandages. "How come you didn't end up like them?"

"They told me to stay out of it, considering I just got back to school."

"That's...very nice of them."

They ate on as silence filled the conversation once again. When they're finished with eating, something popped up in Makoto's mind.

"Well, since I'm the student council president, I'd like to ask you a question as peers... How's Shujin so far? Are you having any problems?"

"I don't really have anything to say..." Minato replied. "...but I'm glad to be back in school."

"That's rather little for someone who just topped the midterms."

"Even I was surprised..." Minato chuckled. He never really understood why people would compare one school to another, although in his case he also used to move around a lot even before what happened. Yes, one stood out from the others, but he's not one to make comparisons.

"I guess following him around isn't going to work anymore..." Makoto came back to the failed stalking attempt. "I'll think of something else. Any ideas, Yuki-kun?"

"Just try to be less subtle..."

"That's obvious, isn't it?" Makoto rolled her eyes. "But whatever the way might be, I might need an assistance. Won't you help me?"

Minato was half-surprised at the offer. Thankfully he didn't reveal anything that made Makoto suspicious so he decided to go along with it even though he didn't know her intentions. But he needed to ask first. "Why me?"

"Asking for help from fellow student council members would've been too obvious..."

"I see." That was a very good point. "Alright, I'll help."

"Thanks..." Makoto sighed in relief. "Ms. Chouno also suggested me to ask you to join the student council even though we already have enough members as is. Are you interested?"

Back in the day, Minato would say yes. But he needed to keep a low profile in this one. "Didn't ask, not interested."

"Figures..." Makoto knew he was going to say that. She understood that having a student with good grades join the council would put them in a good image. However, they didn't necessarily need new members. Besides, joining the student council as a third-year wasn't exactly ideal. "Anyway, let's exchange contact information. We've been sitting next to each other in class for almost three months yet we barely know each other..."

They took out their phones and exchanged contacts before parting ways. Makoto went home while Minato went off to prepare for a Mementos exploration. It was late in the day, but it was better late than never.

"I'll text you if I need anything, Yuki-kun." Makoto waved.

Wednesday. June 8th, 2017.

It's lunchtime. Minato just grabbed the last yakisoba bread from the shop, much to others' dismay. He decided he wanted to eat it in the classroom but then a text message from someone stopped him from walking midway. He pulled his phone out to check who it's from.

**\- IM CHAT LOG -**

**Makoto Niijima**

**Makoto:** This is Niijima. Do you have a minute, Yuki-kun?

 **Makoto:** I'd like your help with something. It won't take long.

 **Me:** Sure.

 **Makoto:** Thanks. I'll be in the student council room.

**\- CHAT LOG END -**

Without further ado, Minato went upstairs and into the student council room. When he arrived and reached for the door, he hoped it wouldn't take long, just like what Makoto said.

"Ah, you're here. Close the door." Makoto grabbed a box on the table, opened it, and grabbed something out of it as Minato approached her.

"I'd like to test this out. It's a recording device." Makoto handed Minato a small piece of black device from the box. "Let's put this underneath the desk during the next class. Then take it off and hand it to me when the class is over."

Minato examined the small device. He had to admit, bugging the school with something the size of a thumb stick drive sounded somewhat new to him as he hadn't been catching up to all the technological advancements. Even so, he quickly understood that placing the device would be tricky.

"If this works, I'd like to use it to hopefully be able to catch them talking about the Phantom Thieves at school."

"You plan on using these all over the school?"

"I'd like to, but I can only afford one of those." Makoto sighed. "However, I've narrowed down the possible place where they might slip away and talk alone in the premises."

"And that place would be...?"

"The rest area near the courtyard. Not many people come there, and it's quite hidden from view. They used to meet at the roof, but I told the council members to lock the doors off after the attempted suicide from before." However, Makoto also understood the downside of narrowing it to just one specific spot. "I know it's a gamble. But If I were them, that's the place I'd most likely take them to talk at school."

Minato agreed in response. Nevertheless, with what they had, it's their best shot.

"There's also a matter of where to place it... That's where I need your help. Could you go there and examine the place for a bit? I know the place, but an outsider input is always appreciated. Plus, having me wandering around would just make it more suspicious."

Minato nodded. "I was about to get something to drink anyway..." He immediately left the room as Makoto put the device back in the box.

"Thanks..." Makoto smiled at Minato who already left the room.

Minato immediately went downstairs still with the yakisoba bread in hand to the spot Makoto pointed.

The rest area was just the way Makoto described it. There were vending machines, a bench, a table, a bin, and not much else. It's a standard rest area.

After grabbing a drink from the vending machine he sat on the bench and had a look around while taking a bite of the bread. As Makoto asked him for an input on a suitable place to plant the recording device, he began exploring a few options.

First, there was the table in the middle of the area. If it was down to him, he could just stick it underneath and leave it there. It's the same for the bench, although it wasn't as strategically placed. Then he looked at the vending machines. Other than the fact that there were an abundance of them, he didn't spot anything weird. Before he left, he saw a traffic cone near the bench with a sign planted on top of it. He quickly ruled out the cone, however, as it could be moved quite easily compared to the bench and the table. With that, he chose to stick with the table but ultimately he had to come to a consensus with Makoto first.

After the bell rang, signaling the end of school for the day, they immediately went to the rest area to discuss where they'd plant the device.

"What do you think, Yuki-kun?" Makoto took a sip of her drink. "Where should we place it?"

It was time for Minato to pick, and he went with his choice from earlier. "Under the table."

"I see." Makoto crouched and looked underneath the table while Minato looked outside the area to see whether someone was coming their way. "Let's place it there. It's in the center of the area so the device can get a maximum amount of coverage. I thought of placing it between the vending machines but I guess the sound interference would be too powerful from those alone. They're practically refrigerators stuck together..." She agreed to his suggestion.

Minato walked to the trashcan to put his empty can of coffee away as Makoto finished her drink. They had reached an agreement so there was no need for him to stick around. He had scheduled to go to Mementos again that day, so he had to hurry. "Are we done here?"

"I believe so... You're going home, Yuki-kun?"

Minato nodded.

"Don't miss the social studies trip starting tomorrow, all right?" Makoto reminded.

"Back at you, Niijima-san." Minato replied as he began walking away from the rest area.

Saturday. June 11th, 2017.

The testing of the recording device on Wednesday was deemed successful as the thing actually worked. With that, their plan to bug the rest area was on a green light. Since the previous two days were spent on the social studies trip, they agreed on doing it starting from that day.

Makoto instructed Minato to come really early in the morning that day and meet her at the rest area. He had done just that, and he immediately arrived to sight of her crouching under the table trying to stick on the recording device. Without even saying hi, he immediately flipped the table over so she didn't have to painstakingly stick it on.

"Morning, Yuki-kun..."

"Morning..."

Lying on the floor were a roll of tape and a pair of scissors. He grabbed the scissors and cut a piece of the tape for her to stick it on. He passed it over, and she taped the device on the center of the table. With the recording device in place, he flipped the table over and put it back in its original position. From that moment on, they could only hope that the Phantom Thieves would actually talk there alone and for the recording device to not die out on them.

Minato volunteered himself to watch over the rest area to save Makoto the trouble. The wild card and his friends weren't seen around the area during lunch break, so he decided to try again after school.

And wouldn't Minato know it, one by one the wild card and his friends began walking to the then empty rest area on short intervals. As the twin-tailed girl walked past him, Makoto approached him from behind. But instead of stopping, she walked straight past him as well and straight into the rest area. He tried to stop her but she didn't listen.

Minato was forced to follow Makoto to a distance while still getting a good view of the rest area. He did that just in case a fight broke out, which might happen under the current situation. He looked on from afar to see her stopping near the rest area. She pulled the phone and approached them with the camera of her phone flashing as bright as a Bless spell. That put him in an instant double facepalm as he watched on.

* * *

"You three seem to be having so much fun. I'm a little jealous." Makoto put her phone away and approached them.

"Are you snoopin' on us again? We said before, we don't know nothin'." Ryuji wasn't pleased with the student council president pestering them yet again.

"Why do you think I'm here to question you? Could it be that you're hiding something? My ears are always open to the troubles of my peers, you know." Makoto relaxed her posture.

"You're really that hungry for a good letter of recommendation? ...Of course you are. Nobody would take your annoying job if they weren't." Ann went in. She wasn't having any of it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shots fired. It admittedly triggered Makoto, but she decided to skirt it aside.

"You're the student council president, right? Wouldn't you have known about Kamoshida?" Ann stood up straight, looking Makoto right in the eyes.

"Of course not! He honestly was a good teacher until that day..." Makoto admitted yet again.

"Oh, but you always take the teacher's side. That's what a good council president does, right?" Ann rolled her eyes.

"Then...how about you? What did you do for your friend?" Makoto went on the offensive. It's clear she wasn't going to just back down. "You were much closer to her than I was. So how did you help?"

"There wasn't any way to help! By myself...I couldn't do anything for her!" Shots fired, this time at Ann who didn't take it too kindly.

"Ann, calm down." Akira grabbed Ann by her shoulder. "Where's this going, senpai?" Then he looked at Makoto.

"It's only a courtesy visit... There's no need to shout." Makoto decided to cool it down. There's no use escalating it even further as both parties agreed to disagree.

"If those Phantom Thieves are out there helpin' people... I'd root for them, no questions asked. They gotta be more dependable than some people I know." Ryuji supported Ann. They were really laying it into Makoto, though.

Feeling tired of arguing, Makoto decided to leave. "...Just make sure you show up to your classes, all right?"

Ann doubted herself about continuing as a Phantom Thief before the confrontation. But it seemed like she just found her footing after all that.

"You know what I asked earlier about whether we'll be OK if we keep this up? I take it back. I'd be ashamed to let it end now."

"Hell yeah, it's about time we find our next target too..." Ryuji concurred.

"We still have to be careful. As Morgana said, we've been too laid back lately." Akira didn't forget to remind them.

* * *

"Yuki-kun, listen to this."

After making sure the rest area was clear after the earlier altercation between Makoto and the Phantom Thieves, Minato quickly took off the recording device they planted earlier in the day. He brought it to the student council room, where she was waiting. After the stunt she pulled earlier, he hoped it was worth it. And from what she just said, it seemed to have. Thankfully, no one came out injured or anything from earlier. Nevertheless, he admitted the bit of drama was very good as it got more out of the wild card and his friends.

Makoto passed a pair of earphones to Minato for him to listen to a particular section of the recording which clearly documented the altercation and the conversation the Phantom Thieves had just momentarily before that. The recording device worked a lot better than he expected. Putting it underneath the table was the right decision, despite his own early worries. They had been found out. What matters next was what she's going to do to them. This would determine the best course of action he must take.

"What's next?"

"..." Makoto was hesitant, but since Minato already helped her get this far, she decided to tell him anyway. "Keep this between us, OK?"

Minato nodded.

"I'd like to know the method they used to change the hearts of both Kamoshida and Madarame... I'd like to see the proof that they can actually deliver justice. If they can prove that much, I won't report them to the principal and to the police."

That was a surprise from Minato's point of view. Coincidentally, it also put him in a tricky situation in regards to helping the new wild card. If things actually fell right into Makoto's hands, the whole problem could possibly be out of his hands in return. Nevertheless, he was relieved to find out that he didn't have to potentially go out to spoil whatever surprise she had in store and potentially put himself in danger.

"A criminal organization has been threatening our students. I've decided to help them..."

Minato knew what Makoto was thinking. He was aware that she looked capable as a student council president, he never doubted that. But chivalry wasn't dead. Even he thought this was too dangerous for her to tackle alone.

"Why not refer to a teacher or the principal for help?"

"The principal didn't believe me, and to him the Phantom Thieves case takes top priority. In the meantime, he delegated the job of providing countermeasure to me instead. The student council had received a request, and yet he dismissed it just like that."

Yet another bombshell was dropped. Had it been a certain red-headed girl, the principal would probably be at least given an earful already if not turned into a giant popsicle.

"I was just as surprised as you are, Yuki-kun..."

At least Minato finally knew what put the girl across the table under so much pressure lately. On the other hand, maybe the chance to help wasn't lost at all.

"Therefore, I'm planning to ask the Phantom Thieves to help me with the criminal organization case, providing they can actually walk the walk..."

"That's why you've been investigating them?" Minato wondered. Makoto responded with a nod.

Minato wanted to outright tell Makoto about what the Phantom Thieves had done and how they did it. But at that moment, there's no way she would believe him. Furthermore, telling her about it right then would mean giving himself away, and he didn't want to do that. He felt there were still ways to go before he could finally come clean about himself. Nevertheless, simply saying that he believed in them wouldn't cause much of a harm.

"I'm sure they'll be able to help you out."

"Thanks for the optimism... You can always join in if you want."

"I'll think about it." Minato grabbed his bag and left the room.

"Thanks for helping, Yuki-kun. I owe you one."

If it sounded as bad as Makoto said, Minato would be forced to help. The "criminal organization" part was what worried him the most. Of course being that he hadn't decided to not come out of the shadows yet, he had to find other ways to help her and the Phantom Thieves.

Monday. June 13th, 2017.

Minato wanted to go straight home that day. But then, Makoto stopped her as he got up from his desk. "Student council room, now..." He thought he was done helping her but he ended up following her regardless. The sight of him entering the student council room had other council members eyeballing him, but he didn't care.

"What?" Minato didn't look too pleased.

"I apologize, Yuki-kun. I just need your help for a bit..." Makoto knew she'd be welcomed unpleasantly from Minato's end.

Minato leaned against the table, still looking not pleased in response.

"I want to call the second-year transfer student over here to talk to him. I need you to sit alongside me just in case something bad happens." Makoto took her laptop out. "Just pretend to not pay attention as I talked to him."

Minato wanted to refuse but since it was that easy, he let it slide. "Hope this doesn't take much time..." Although he still wasn't pleased about getting dragged into it. He sat down beside her, and she put the laptop in front of him. She then briefly stepped out of the room to tell a council member to announce that the new wild card had been told to see the student council president. He decided to play along, so to further act like he's not listening in, he put on his earphones and pretended to be listening to music.

Minutes later, the frizzy-haired boy arrived at the student council room.

"Ah, earlier than expected."

"What do you need, Niijima-senpai?"

"Have a seat..."

Both Akira and Makoto sat down while Minato kept his eyes glued to the laptop, pretending to be typing.

"I'll get straight to the point." Makoto began. "Mr. Kamoshida and Madarame. Won't you tell me the truth behind the Phantom Thieves' incidents?"

Minato immediately felt shudders from something. He remained silent as Makoto continued.

"Can't answer that? Ah, of course, there's no way you would admit to such things." She pulled out her phone and put it on the table, opening a recording file. She didn't forget to turn the volume up beforehand. "Have a listen."

Makoto played the recording. Akira knew the voices sound familiar at first. A few seconds later he realized it's from the conversation they had in the rest area before Makoto herself confronted them.

_"If someone else could help 'em, we wouldn't be doin' stuff as the Phantom Thieves to start with!"_

Minato glanced over the laptop to see Akira starting to drop a couple of sweat. He might be calm on the outside, but he's not going to be able to deny the recording.

_"So you think it's true? We'll be OK if we keep doing this...right?"_

"What could all this mean?"

"..." Akira was speechless.

"We screwed up..." While Morgana stated the obvious.

Minato knew it all too well. He could sense Akira cussing on the back of his head.

"Was it blackmail? Hypnosis? How do you corner someone into making them confess? Won't you tell me how you did it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, senpai." Akira still tried to talk his way out of it.

"You want to say that this doesn't prove anything, don't you? I believe that you three are the Phantom Thieves." But Makoto was taking none of it. "Now, what would the police think if they heard my recording?"

Minato could sense Akira gradually getting more and more frustrated.

"It'd be bad if we're put under police surveillance." Morgana warned Akira to not snitch. "There's no telling what'll happen to you, too."

Minato only vaguely heard the cat inside the bag, but he was well aware of Akira's situation.

"If you confess the truth, I don't mind leaving this between the two of us. You'll tell me, won't you?"

"Umm, let me think about it..." Akira was hesitant. It's a decision which hinged on him getting stitches or getting kicked out of school, after all.

"I believe that time will just be wasted." Makoto was completely on top of the whole situation. Minato was admittedly impressed to the point he thought being in the room with them was pointless.

Then they heard a ring. Minato's phone had a different ringtone, and Makoto's phone was on the table. It could only came from the person sitting across them.

Akira looked at the source, which was an incoming call from Ryuji.

"Go ahead." Makoto nodded.

Akira picked up the call, and immediately Ryuji went in almost screaming and the voice from the other end of the line was heard from across the table.

_"Hey, where you at, takin' a leak? Let's meet up at the usual spot to hold our Phantom Thieves meetin'!"_

"Yeah...sure... Go on ahead, I'll call you back." Akira stuttered. He immediately hung up the phone. It just became more and more incriminating, all because he forgot to turn the volume down.

Minato could feel more and more loathing and cussing at the back of Akira's head. They had cocked it up, and he knew it. If only it wasn't for the student council president willingly cutting a deal, he would be acting much differently.

"That idiot...!" Even Morgana cringed.

"As loud as always...but his timing's perfect." Makoto smirked. She knew she had got that one in the bag. "I'd like everyone else to hear this as well. Won't you take me to your friends?"

Akira had no other option but to accept it.

"I guess it can't be helped now..." Morgana hammered the point home.

Makoto and Akira immediately left the room without saying a word. A minute later, a text came to Minato's phone.

**\- IM CHAT LOG -**

**Makoto Niijima**

**Makoto:** Please hold on to my laptop for a moment.

 **Makoto:** Let's meet up after I'm done. I'll be waiting in the Shibuya station.

 **Me:** OK.

 **Makoto:** Thanks. I apologize for the trouble.

**\- CHAT LOG END -**

Minato packed up, took Makoto's laptop with him, and nonchalantly walked out of the student council room towards the intended destination to return the laptop before he could go on and do anything else.

* * *

The Phantom Thieves had just received one of the worst news they could've got; they had been busted. Fortunately, it's the student council president, and she didn't immediately tell the principal and the police about it. She instead let them think about accepting her favour for the day otherwise she would actually turn them in for real. Nevertheless, they retreated to a nearby diner to discuss what just happened. Yusuke was clearly not happy with what just happened.

Yusuke began ostracizing. "You were careless. I don't think you truly understood how high the stakes were." He first turned to Ryuji since he's the one who basically gave it all away. "Anything to say, Ryuji?"

"Why're you singlin' me out!? Ann got recorded too, y'know!" Ryuji wasn't pleased.

"I'm so sorry..." Ann apolgized.

"Let's not point fingers at each other..." Akira calmed them down. "It's our fault. We didn't think someone would be recording at all. Ryuji's phone call was just bad luck on both ends. I also forgot to turn the volume down."

"Hey, what should we do? That girl's got dirt on us..." Ryuji was worried.

"First, we can't casually talk about it at school anymore. That was a proof of it. No more pretending anyone wouldn't listen in."

"A recording seems to be insufficient evidence, though. And even with that, there's no way they could prove our methods." Yusuke still saw the bright side in all of that.

"Considering who we're dealing with, I think it might be a trap." Ann followed, also looking worried.

"Regardless, Akira would be in real trouble. He's on probation, after all..." Then Morgana chimed in.

"Oh, yeah... He's effed if it's a trap. Things'd get rough if we didn't have our leader...and I totally don't wanna deal with the police." Then it hit Ryuji. He looked at Akira with an apologetic face.

"Look, I'm not here to sulk about anyone potentially sending me to jail." Akira sighed.

"Then...we have no other choice but to go along with it." That was what Yusuke had in mind.

"Yes, it's best we agree, at least for the time being... We made a crucial mistake, but not a critical one. We'll just have to recover from here on out." Morgana quickly concurred.

"Yeah, yeah... My bad." Ryuji sighed. If there was a time he had to listen to Morgana, that had to be it. "So, we doin' this?"

"We have no other choice. She's cornered us." Akira answered.

"We're meetin' on the school rooftop tomorrow, yeah?"

"What about me? I could always sneak in if necessary." Yusuke felt the need to be present in the meeting.

"That'll draw too much attention. You should just stay outside, Yusuke." But Ann declined the idea.

"Or we can just lend him Ryuji's spare uniform..." Then Akira came out with an idea out of the blue.

"Where did you get that idea from!?" The idea wasn't very well received on Ryuji's end

"It just popped in my head, is all." Akira half-joked.

"No chance! Someone would notice that." Ann straight up declined the idea. "We'll text you after the meeting."

"I'll be waiting regardless." Yusuke would have to accept that he could only wait.

"What could she be scheming...?" Wondered Ann.

"Since she's the student council president, I'm not ruling out the possibility of it being a sincere favor." Akira predicted.

"Guess we'll just hafta see tomorrow and hope it doesn't blow up in our faces..." With Ryuji agreeing to what Akira was saying.

* * *

"I guess I owe you more than once now..." Makoto chuckled as she received the laptop Minato was holding onto. "In all seriousness, thank you. It's just the beginning but you've helped me a lot. I'm sorry if it causes discomfort on your behalf..."

"Don't mention it." Minato closed his bag.

"I didn't think I was able to pull it off at all. Fortunately, they handled it with level heads earlier." Makoto sighed. "They agreed to listen to me after I showed them the same recording."

Since the Phantom Thieves had agreed to help Makoto, Minato felt he could finally mind his own business again. But he felt their paths will cross again in a way or two.

"I wonder whether I'd be able to help our students in trouble."

That again. Minato felt a pang of uncertainty on Makoto's end. He decided it was the right time to tell her about a student council president he knew from back in the day.

"This student council president I knew in my previous school, she'd never let teachers off for not doing their jobs in regards to the students. Once, she found out a teacher had been covering up the news of a student's disappearance and gave the teacher an earful like she's a fellow teacher...no, like she's the principal of the school. She also reprimanded another teacher who apparently used up a portion of the student council's funds to pay for taxi rides. It almost got the treasurer kicked out of school, which didn't sit well with her. In the end, she managed to solve both problems while keeping herself out of trouble with the teachers despite her nature. She always topped the exams, and graduated as a valedictorian. Everyone respected her, even the teachers. It's truly like she owned the school during her tenure."

Minato ended the explanation with a chuckle. Granted, the Kirijo Group built Gekkoukan High so during Mitsuru's tenure as the student council president it really was like she owned the school.

"She must be a revered student council president back in the day. I'm surprised she didn't get in trouble with the teachers at all. Teachers don't like it when students raise their tones when talking, let alone reprimand them..."

"Tell me about it..."

"Always look after the students, huh..." Makoto wondered. "I wonder if I can even stand up to the teachers on behalf of our students and not get in trouble with them like she did."

Minato doubted it. Mitsuru really was one of a kind. Nevertheless, he cheered Makoto on. "If she could, so can you...in a way."

"That's...reassuring." Makoto smiled.

As silence filled the conversation, they both thought it's time to wrap it up.

"I take it you're interested in joining the student council, Yuki-kun?"

"No." Minato deadpanned.

"At least I tried..." Makoto chuckled and rested the case. After all, it was only a recommendation from Ms. Chouno. She didn't have to comply to it. "Well, I better get going. See you tomorrow." She waved Minato goodbye.


	16. Solo Leveling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following events in this chapter take place in between the events of the previous two.

Sunday. June 5th, 2017.

It was shaping up to be a slow day for Minato. He wasn't planning on visiting the fitness center that day since he had already been doing that in the past six days. No homework due tomorrow, either. So he's all good on that end, at least.

Instead of just lingering around, he shifted his mind to his plan tomorrow: grinding the living hell out of it in Mementos.

The only thing he had to take care of was melee weapon selection as the only working weapon he had was a short sword. The bus stop sign from before had been damaged beyond repair and was scrapped. His fists and kicks were exclusively reserved for excursions to one of those specific places outside of Mementos. Without a doubt, it was clear he needed a new type of weapon.

He wanted something with a bit more reach than his one-handed sword, which gave him two options: a two-handed sword or a spear. Unfortunately, he hadn't found an establishment that exclusively sold weapons he could buy. Going to Theo would've been useless unless he could create a special weapon out of his Personas. He then went on the internet and managed to find two-handed swords he's interested in and could afford. However, he forgot it's Sunday, which meant contacting those online retailers was impossible since it's their day off. He found himself kicking, but he really couldn't blame them. If only he had an associate that could provide him with weapons...

Once again, the internet proved to be a very good help as he stumbled upon a how-to on making a spear on his own. According to the guide, it could be done in just a day. Without further ado, he decided he'd want a spear and he's going to make his own. Making it on his own required a wooden shaft, a knife, and something to put them together.

First off, he checked the knives. There were some in the kitchen but they must stay there, he thought. So he had to find an alternative. He recalled being given a fruit knife by Shinjiro, which was part of a request from Elizabeth back then. He took out the duffel bag he was given at the start and found the knife nicely wrapped and tucked in one of its pockets. That's one material down.

Next, he went out for a bit of shopping. First, he bought a wooden broom handle for the shaft which was about as tall as him upright. Then it's time to pick the material to put the shaft and the knife together. Despite having the option to use tape, he decided to use parachute cord instead. His crafting skills weren't too shabby thanks to all the handiwork he did while helping a certain international transfer student making a kimono. He also bought a black spray paint because for some reason he wanted to paint it black. He also got a baseball bat wrap for the handle since he didn't want it slipping off his hands during combat.

On his way home, he came across a piece of blank knife, which was about the size of a normal kitchen knife, much bigger than the fruit knife. He ended up getting it for his spear as substitute for the fruit knife. Aside from the obvious advantage in blade length and structural integrity, it would pain him to strip apart something associated to his fallen old friend just to make a weapon out of it and he was grateful it didn't have to be that way.

According to the how-to, he must carve a groove in one end of the broom handle around the same size as the thickness of the knife's tang so they could be fitted together. However, there was a problem. It's not like he couldn't force himself to do it, but it's more to the fact that he didn't have the tools. He decided to go see the landlord and he was kind enough to lend him a saw.

With the tools and materials set, he got to work back in his apartment. First, he carved in the groove with the saw right to around the same size of the blank knife's tang, then slotted in the blank knife. He then wrapped them together tightly with the parachute cord to make sure they wouldn't come apart. It came out a lot better than he thought, but he credited following the instruction for it. With the spear basically all set, he took it out to the veranda of his apartment, laid some old newspaper on the floor, laid down the spear on some bricks, and took out the spray paint. He really wanted no nonsense with it so he painted the whole wooden shaft black and left it to dry.

He cleaned up the apartment, returned the saw to the landlord, had lunch, and took a nap as he waited for the paint to dry. About three hours later, the paint had dried, so he took it in and got a feel for it. Feeling satisfied, he took out the bat wrap and put it on about halfway up the shaft. The apartment didn't have enough room for him to be thrusting away so he'd have to wait until the next day. Next, he put in a set of clothes in a separate bag for him to get changed to.

After getting everything ready, it's time to turn in for the night.

As his eyes were beginning to shut, something important hit him...

He forgot to get a bag to carry the spear.

But it was an issue for another day as he couldn't hold himself from drifting into sleep.

Monday. June 6th, 2017.

_Comment vous dire..._

_La vérité finit toujours par se découvrir._

_À chaque jour suffit sa peine,_

_Chacun trouve chaussure à son pied._

_Le temps blanchit les têtes sans mûrir la raison..._

The season had changed.

The temperatures had risen.

The weather was getting fairer.

With that, off came the jacket and the turtleneck, and on came the polo shirt. It's by far the most lenient dress code for high school students, according to Minato. People might mistake Shujin students in the summer for regular civilians any day.

After spending the week before on physical conditioning, Minato was finally ready to continue his Mementos exploration again. As he got changed to his usual Metaverse attire, he took out his new weapon for the day, the spear he made the day before. The thing with Makoto plus finding a bag that would be able to conceal the spear took almost all of that day, leaving him no choice but to go to Mementos in the night. Coincidentally, it had also been one of his plans to go investigate the Metaverse in the dark. So far all of his excursions were done during the day so he wanted to see what difference would going in at night made.

His objective for the exploration: Level up all eleven of his current Personas. The weather was quite good outside, so he decided not to focus on getting the rare Personas the Velvet Siblings requested. He still had one slot left in his repertoire, but he'd rather be trucking the Shadows instead of trying to get a new Persona, all for the sake of maxing his current ones.

And trucking those Shadows he did. He hit them hard. There was no such thing as overdoing and overkilling it. He didn't spare any mercy upon them. The slash and thrust of the spear, the true flight of the arrows, and the many many skills the Personas had all equally contributed. The exploration went on pretty smoothly as a result. Thanks to the workouts he did the week before, he barely broke up a sweat despite already going up and down the three Aiyatsbus areas. The spear he made held up against the onslaught so far, to add to the fact that it's surprisingly comfortable in his hands.

After another round of the three areas, he decided to get down to the next one. But instead of the usual labyrinth, he was greeted with a platform. There were trains coming and going in the other track, complete with what looked like Shadows queuing to then get in them. Nothing was seen coming out of the trains, though. He didn't really care about where the trains came from, and where they're going. Trains did pass his side if the platform, but they're not stopping unlike the ones on the platform across.

The sight of Shadows in what seemed like a peaceful area did make him worry. As a counteractive measure, he thought it wouldn't hurt to be cautious but after checking the surroundings on his side of the platform and tracks he declared it's safe and no one would jump out the darkness and attack him.

He could finally sit down and relax. The waiting room didn't have much else to see other than what's laid there. The only other things he found were some trash. Pieces of paper, empty cup noodles, plastic, and even empty cans were found in the waiting room. He figured they're probably from the Phantom Thieves and they didn't bother cleaning up after doing whatever it was they're doing.

He might not break up too much sweat, but some refreshments were still due. He pulled out a bottle of water and took a sip as he tried fiddling with his phone. One difference he noticed between the Dark Hour and the Metaverse was that electronic devices still worked, as evident from his phone albeit with reduced functionality. He had chosen to leave his music player behind, but he might bring them in next time, so long as he's careful.

Next, he checked the progress of his Personas. From all the trucking he did, ten Personas had been maxed out. It's a sign for him to call it a session and exit the Metaverse.

It was getting really late, almost midnight, when he finally returned to his apartment.

Before he turned in, he did something special whenever he managed to stay up late. He grabbed his Evoker, went outside and stood on the sidewalks of main street Yongen-Jaya, and stood there with music blasting through his ears as he watched the clock struck midnight. As it had been ever since he's alive again, nothing happened. The sky didn't turn green, the moon didn't expand in size, all the things mechanical and electrical didn't stop working, no one turned into coffins, and no structures magically appeared out of nowhere in the distance.

He knew the Dark Hour was no longer. He was glad it's all over but also glad it happened. In the hidden hour, he made memories, good and bad ones. It also improved him profoundly, gaining back the emotions he had lost in between. Sure it didn't bring his parents back, but in their place were a family of his own, comprised of fellows his age and younger. He looked up in the sky, wondering how they're all doing, wondering whether he'd ever see them again in person.

Some minutes later, he decided to get back into his apartment and turn in for the night.

Tuesday. June 7th, 2017.

After yesterday's grindfest, it was time for Minato to go to the Velvet Room, as scheduled.

"Ah, you've arrived... Welcome back..." Margaret greeted as he emerged from the door.

"We were beginning to wonder when you'd come again..." Elizabeth walked up and hugged him.

Minato embraced the hug. "I was busy preparing myself."

"Preparing yourself for...?"

"For Mementos explorations." Minato completed the sentence. "I have all the Personas but my body just couldn't take it. So I spent the week before exercising."

"I see... It reminded me of a companion of yours..." Elizabeth referenced.

"Yeah, right." Minato chuckled. How ironic of him to not really listen to Akihiko talked about exercising back then when he had to do exactly that in order to cope with the onslaught in the present.

"How may we help you today?"

"The usual..."

Minato registered all of his Personas, including Orpheus, although he hadn't maxed out all of them.

After that, it's fusion time. He wanted to focus on fusing up stronger Personas without having to pay a sum of money and re-summon fodder from the Compendium. It's just like how he liked to do it back then. He thought it felt more organic that way.

Before he began, he determined which Personas would be labeled "not for fusion" outside of Orpheus, for obvious reasons. From the list, he chose Kodama and Inugami. Kodama, because it's his main option for Wind spells, plus it's got a new attacking element in Psychokinesis. Inugami, because it's statistically much better than his other Personas, bar Orpheus. In addition, it had been set as his main Physical-based Persona. From all that he got eight Personas to fuse away as he please: Genbu, Kelpie, Hua Po, Succubus, Saki Mitama, Agathion, Bicorn, and Silky.

First, he looked to fuse away Hua Po. After looking at the options, he chose Saki Mitama as the second fodder to make quite the juicy Persona, Suzaku. Elizabeth remarked at the start that he could make any Personas he liked as long as it had a lower base level than Orpheus. Therefore, Suzaku got a pass. It also had another new type of elemental spell, Nuclear. Choosing the skills to inherit was rather tricky as it had three innate skills and four to be unlocked. He chose to inherit two skills in the end, Hua Po's Dormina and Maragi. Dormina to expand his aliment options, and Maragi just in case he couldn't create a Fire-based Persona with what he had left.

Next, he focused on Bicorn. With so many options available, he picked Kelpie as the other fodder and made another Physical-based Persona, Berith. Yes he already had Inugami, but considering Berith's base level, he saw it as a chance to fill his Compendium. He inherited Bicorn's Apt Pupil alongside Kelpie's Sukukaja and Terror Claw.

Andras, the menacing owlman was next in line for creation. As it's Ice-based, no value was lost as he picked Genbu as one of the materials. For its second material, Silky. He inherited Genbu's Mabufu, Dia, and Defense Master. To go along with it, Silky's Sharp Student. Believe it or not, it's the first time he actually inherited the maximum amount of four skills into a new Persona.

And then there were eight. Succubus and Agathion's sacrifice would have to wait as he would've ended up creating another Saki Mitama which he already had.

With all Persona-related business done, Minato had one question. It's an important one.

"About that door..."

The Velvet Siblings instantly knew what Minato was about to ask, so Elizabeth took over and began explaining.

"The Velvet Room is not located in the same plane as Mementos and the worlds you have visited before. It won't merge with the surroundings and will remain separated from all existence. You may imagine it the same way the door used to appear at the entrance of Tartarus. Although should one such world emerge and tapped into during your visit, you may stumble upon it when you leave this room."

Then Margaret added "Before we came to you, we had meticulously prepared to anticipate every possibilities. The door appearing only when the key is at very close proximity is something we managed to fashion specifically for you. Unless he is also nearby, there's no need to worry about an uninvited guest entering this room."

"I see." Minato understood that he had to be careful out of all that.

With that out of the way, he decided to stop worrying and relax. He looked around and found one thing catching his eyes, a crane game machine, filled with dolls.

It took him back. He remembered having to get help from both Junpei and Ryoji to get three Jack Frost dolls because he only managed to get one and that Junpei called himself a master of it of some sorts. In the end, Junpei got two while Ryoji got something totally unrelated, a google-eyed idol. He held onto the Jack Frost dolls while the google-eyed idol became a subject of a round-town barter. In the end of the chain of barters, he received a platinum bookmark from a man he often went to see in the shrine playground. It turned out the bookmark belonged to Elizabeth who dropped it when they visited the shrine together. He ended up being rewarded with a sum of three million yen in coins as a result.

He put a coin in the machine and played it. There was a Jack Frost doll in the pile, and that's what he wanted to get. He set the crane right on top of the doll then pushed a button to lower it. The crane managed to grab the doll but then dropped it just as he was beginning to move it back. He put another coin in it, again targeting the same doll. The crane held onto it for some time but then it got off again, although he managed to bring it closer to the dropping point. He tried again, putting another coin in the machine. The grab of the crane was true, and he slowly and carefully moved it. A slight turn almost caused the crane to completely lose grip of the doll. He eventually managed to get it to the dropping point after again almost losing it as the doll was slipping away.

He took the doll from the reward box as Elizabeth approached him. "I was just curious..."

"My, my, it only took you three attempts to obtain an item..." Now she became curious. "I...we have been trying for an eternity...without any significant progress..."

He didn't say anything, instead put his Jack Frost doll down and inserted another coin into the machine. He figured he should give her a demonstration, even though he wasn't sure whether he could get another one in three attempts. She didn't say anything either, resorting to watch intently from over his shoulder.

It took him not one, two, or three attempts. Instead, it took him thirteen attempts to finally get another Jack Frost doll. He took it out and gave it to her. The first Jack Frost doll was coming home with him.

"Thank you..." Elizabeth giggled. "Though I must say, it looks as if the machine was purposely designed to fail its task, forcing the operator to spend more fortune in order to successfully claim the prize..." She said after getting the chance to examine it.

"I think that's the general idea..." He never really compared the price of getting one from the shop to the amount of money spent on getting one himself from the machine. But he thought her deduction was going somewhere.

"I am most intrigued to know how you managed to defeat such deliberately faulty design..." She got curious before, then the machine actually took her interest. "I shall conduct my own research in order to be able to perform such feat myself!"

"One rule, don't break the glass. That'd be cheating." He added.

"Very well, I shall conduct my research on fair grounds!" She got excited.

It ended with both of them laughing in sync. Her excitement over the little things was always a joy to see, even if he rarely showed his enjoyment towards it. It's why he liked her so much. The positive vibe was contagious that he couldn't help but be happy for it, even when he didn't have the best of days.

He was feeling rather tired and he still had to go to Mementos the next day, so he decided to conclude the visit. He took the Jack Frost doll in one hand, and Elizabeth's hand in the other as he walked onto the door.

"I have a feeling you're going to be visiting again soon." Said Elizabeth as they arrived in front of the door leading to the outside world.

"I plan to..." Minato grabbed the door handle and twisted it, opening the door.

Before he stepped out, she pulled him down for a kiss, then set him on his way.

"I'll be waiting, dear..."

* * *

**INTERMISSION  
List of Personas:**

******Lv32 Orpheus  
** ** ** ******Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda, Endure, Maragion,** ** ** ************Marakukaja, Fire Boost, Dodge Curse (skill card)** ** ** ** ** ** ************  
** ** ** ** ** ** ****************Lv14 Kodama  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ****************Skills: Garu, Rakunda, Psi** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **************, Evil Touch, Tarukaja  
** ** ****Next skill unlocked (in order): Fear Boost, Resist Fear** ** ** ** ** ** ** ****************  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ********************Lv17 Inugami  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ********************Skills: Giant Slice, Pulinpa, Tarukaja, Dream Needle** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******************, Lucky Punch  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******************Next skill unlocked (in order): Brain Shake, Confuse Boost  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ************************Lv12 Succubus  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ************************Skills: Marin Karin, Rebellion, Zio, Eiha, Evil Touch, Agi, Dekaja, Brainwash Boost, Mudo** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ************************  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******************************Lv8 Agathion  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******************************Skills: Zio, Baisudi, Dia, Lunge,** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******************************Rakukaja, Dodge Elec** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **************************  
Lv19 Suzaku (normal fusion Hua Po x Saki Mitama)  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ************************Skills: Frei, Marin Karin, Tarunda, Dormina (inherited from Hua Po), Maragi (inherited from Hua Po)  
Next skill unlocked (in order): Ominous Words, Mafrei, Speed Master, Matarunda  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******Lv9 Berith (normal fusion Bicorn x Kelpie)  
** ** ** ****Skills: Cleave, Rakukaja, Apt Pupil (inherited from Bicorn), Sukukaja (inherited from Kelpie), Terror Claw (inherited from Kelpie)  
Next skill unlocked (in order): Double Fangs, Dodge Fire, Sledgehammer** ** ******  
**** Lv10 Andras (normal fusion Genbu x Silky)  
** ****Skills: Bufu, Rakunda, Mabufu (inherited from Genbu), Dia (inherited from Genbu), Defense Master (inherited from Genbu), Sharp Student (inherited from Silky)** ** ********  
** ** ** ** ****Next skill unlocked (in order):** ** ****Tarukaja, Apt Pupil, Ice Break****

* * *

Wednesday. June 8th, 2017.

It's day two of grinding. Luckily, the business with Makoto ended quickly that day for him to still go about grinding and make it out before it's getting late. As he managed to free up some slots in his repertoire, the day's grinding session would also become a hunting session. Other than that, he wanted to see how much of the area still remained. Last time he was there, he decided to call it a day in the rest area.

Before he picked up where he left off on Monday, he decided to take another tour of the first three Aiyatsbus areas to level up Berith. Its high strength, plus the increased critical rate thanks to him passing down Apt Pupil made minced meat out of the Shadows. It didn't take him a round-trip to get Berith to the appropriate level, where it learned all of its skills. It wasn't exclusively reserved for Berith as Suzaku and Andras got a little run of their own.

After taking a little break in the fourth area, he was ready to get down to a new area. He figured there should be new types of Shadows further in. After all, he still didn't have all the elemental attacks covered, so getting some to expand his options would be nice.

After some time in the new area, it looked like his wish was about to come true as he engaged a Shadow taking form of a Persona he's familiar with.

In front of him was an Archangel, or as it wanted to be called, the Heavenly Punisher. Minato shrugged and just went along with it. He had slain a lot of Shadows with the spear, but none of them wore armor and carried a weapon.

The Heavenly Punisher charged with its sword. For starters, Minato summoned Berith and had the two square off. With its trident, Berith deflected the Shadow's slash. Then the Berith thrust twice. Both hit the enemy but didn't really cause much damage. The thrusts managed to knock it back, nonetheless.

Minato commanded Berith to not wane and take the fight to the Heavenly Punisher. Berith rushed, pointing the trident forward with a jousting stance. This time the enemy stood its ground, absorbed the hit of the trident with the shield, and landed a slash on Berith. Minato who hadn't stepped off his bike followed his Persona and parked alongside it. He could see the Persona was ailing and that frontal confrontation wasn't going to be as effective anymore. With that, he had a plan in mind.

As Berith was bigger than Minato and his bike, he commanded it to rush at the enemy with him riding right behind. Just as predicted, it invited the Heavenly Punisher to charge as well, turning it into a game of chicken. Just as they were about to clash, he quickly switched Personas.

"Orpheus!"

The Cavalryman turned into the Master of Strings, which quickly caught the Heavenly Punisher's sword with its lyre and knocked it away. Orpheus vaulted over the enemy and bashed it in the back of its head, followed by Minato who, after ducking underneath the enemy, turned around and fired an arrow which hit it in its back. However, it wasn't quite yet finished.

"Succubus!"

He remembered what the Shadow's weakness was and switched Persona again, pulling back Orpheus for Succubus which wasted no time and cast an Electricity spell, zapping the enemy into submission. Before it could get up, Minato raced towards it and pointed his spear against its neck. "Yield!" He commanded.

"Such humiliation...bested by an instrument of harmony..." Then something rang in The Heavenly Punisher. "The lyre...!"

Minato lowered the spear and took a few steps back as it seemed to comply.

"By the name of Our Father...! It is you..." The Archangel gasped, then knelt and bowed in front of him.

"At ease, Archangel. You seem stronger than before..." Some of these Shadows seem to remember him as well. He figured it's a given even though it's still strange for them to have recollections related to him.

"Yet I still pale before you... I am most ashamed." It shook its head.

"Don't be. Stand up..." Minato raised a hand as a signal. As uncharacteristic as it may be, sometimes he liked mimicking these Shadows' mannerisms when negotiating. It showed the first time with Jack-o-Lantern. Then it showed again with Bicorn and Inugami. The Shadows' personalities certainly took his interest.

"I deserve death as consequence of defeat and going astray." The Heavenly Punisher stood up but kept its head down, still feeling the shame.

"No need, Heavenly Punisher. Instead of your life, I want your strength. Join me..." Minato got to the point.

"I am honored. I, Archangel, shall return to the sea of souls and be by your side."

The Shadow-turned-Persona merged with Minato's mask. Archangel was one of his favorites when he just started back in the day so he very much welcomed its addition. Along with that, he finally got a Bless-based Persona.

After that, just like last time, the rest of the exploration went smoothly. He also managed to get two other Personas, Obariyon and Slime. With that, the number of Personas in his repertoire jumped to eleven. He still had one slot remaining. Coincidentally, it looked like he's about to run out of new areas to explore.

As he was nearing the end of the sixth area, he found something strange. It looked like a piece of jewelry lying on the floor. He figured it might be worth a fortune so he felt he should take it. But upon touch, it reacted. A strange figure came out of it, like an apparition of some sort. Then it became obvious that it's a Shadow which Minato must fight. A hunch inside him spoke, telling it might be the rare Persona the Velvet Siblings requested to be brought in.

Whatever it was, he deduced that he must hurry, otherwise something might happen. It looked staggered so he decided to not waste time and engaged. The slash of the spear barely damaged it, so did Orpheus' Fire spell. He tried the same with Archangel's Bless spell but it barely made a scratch. The resistance the Shadow put further confirmed it as the rare Persona which meant he had to grab it fast.

As it had the potential to run away, he cycled through his Personas and decided to try using another Persona. It could may well be his last chance.

"Suzaku!"

Suzaku came out, and cast a Nuclear spell. He prayed it to connect, and connect it did. It also managed to knock down its target. Minato immediately jumped out of his bike and planted one foot on the Shadow, brandishing his bow with an arrow at its disposal. He looked at the downed enemy sharply, as if actually on the cusp of killing it.

"To think you would coerce me into giving in... How brilliant."

He thought he'd have to persuade it, but it seemed to catch his drift right away.

"My name is Regent... My existence shall become a new part of you."

Without delay, the rare jewel turned into a mask and merged with Minato's, signaling it becoming his Persona. He was surprised at how easy it is. He related it to the time when he had to take down those annoying golden hands and how effortless it was to get Regent to submit. He didn't think such presumably rare Persona would possess weaknesses either.

He reached for the stairs, went down, and was greeted with a platform with tracks at either side and another barrier on the far end of it. It marked the end of the area. To proceed, he'd have to wait for the Phantom Thieves to open it up.

Before leaving, he checked Regent's stats. It turned out the Velvet Siblings were right. It's indeed well-rounded with eight different elemental spell, and came with a lot of resistances and a couple of weaknesses as it's akso weak to Psychokinesis. Its set of affinities even rivaled that of high-end Personas he could name off the top of his head.

Feeling satisfied, he concluded the exploration. The social studies trip began the next day and Makoto had warned him to not miss it so he went home to get some rest.

Saturday. June 11th, 2017.

Minato headed to the Velvet Room as soon as he's out of the school building. The previous two days were used up for the social studies trip, so he wasn't able to do much.

First thing he did after sitting down in the Velvet Room was presenting what's presumably the rare Persona the Velvet Siblings had requested. He summoned it on the round table for the three siblings to take a look at.

"Regent... Named after a large diamond discovered in the land of the south..."

Next, they checked its capabilities, from its set of skills and affinities.

"It's exactly as we described... Without a doubt, a rare Persona indeed." The siblings nodded in agreement. They were satisfied, and they thanked Minato for bringing it to them.

"Upon a little research we conducted during our spare time, we've collected information that there may be more of these scattered in the collective unconsciousness. To put it plainly, Regent is not the only one." Elizabeth spoke up.

"We ask that you bring one when you find them. Each kind brought here will be delightfully rewarded." Followed by Margaret, who was still in awe with it.

"Sisters, since they take form as valuable items, why don't we give them a specific term?" Then Theo proposed an idea.

"You mean something like a separate group, Theo?" Elizabeth knew what he meant.

Theo nodded in response. "Yes, sister."

"Let's see..." Everyone, even Minato began thinking of a fitting name.

Theo quickly came up with one. "How about 'Treasure'?"

"'Treasure'..." Margaret pondered as she looked at other for ideas. Elizabeth seemed to agree, so did Minato. "Very well, let us call them "Treasure Personas" onward. It makes perfect sense considering they could possibly be named after items of priceless value."

"As this is precisely what we requested, I believe a reward is due." Margaret looked at Theo, who immediately reached behind his chair.

"I understand you're currently having a difficulty with obtaining weapons. Thus, I have provided this weapon specifically for your needs." Theo took out the weapon, a double-headed axe.

Minato accepted it, and thanked the siblings for the reward, or should he say, the present. It's a much needed item, the weapon. He had been looking for a new bludgeon ever since he scrapped the bus stop sign.

"I must say, it is unusual for a guest to be well-versed with many weapon classes." Theo pondered. "It reminds me of this quote 'I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times'."

"Quite the famous quote, Theo..." Margaret for once complimented Theo.

"It is simply a quote, there's no need to take personal meanings behind it." Theo stated.

Minato shrugged. Admittedly, the quote held some truth in it. Elizabeth sneaked behind and grabbed him by his shoulders. "According to the quote just now, that would mean he has practiced ten thousand kicks ten thousand times each, judging by his combat proficiency." She said in his defense.

"You may be right, sister... Such a special case indeed. Even someone I closely knew was only proficient with one type of armament..." Theo was left wondering on his own as Minato moved on to other things.

After submitting the Treasure Persona, he registered it, along with the rest of his Personas.

Then it's fusion time. Before he got started, he barred Orpheus, Suzaku, and Archangel from fusion as they're at a stronger level than the other ten. Plus, he hadn't maxed out the latter two yet. He now had nine Personas in his disposal: Kodama, Inugami, Succubus, Agathion, Berith, Andras, Obariyon, Slime, and Regent.

Again, he wanted to fuse up new Personas without re-summoning from his Compendium.

First up, getting Succubus fused away. He picked Obariyon as the second material and made Angel. He didn't mid that he might end up with two Bless-based Persona at the end of the day so it's all well. He inherited Succubus' Zio and Dekaja. He inherited Zio just in case he couldn't create an Elec-based Persona. There wasn't anything worth passing down from Obariyon as Angel couldn't receive Physical skills which Obariyon specialized in.

Next, another Persona long overdue for fusion, Agathion. He paired it with Inugami to create High Pixie. Although High Pixie couldn't receive Inugami's Physical skills, he still could pass down a skill or two. He chose Inugami's Pulinpa just to give it more options in the ailment department.

Regent was full of potential as it turned out he could make a lot of different Personas with it as one of the materials. So for that, he's willing to make an exception since the only other way to get it was to find one to add to the fact that it's not something he could find any given day. With it, he made Shiisaa with Slime as the second material. Shiisaa could inherit anything but Wind skills. In turn, it seemed to have some Physical skills at its disposal. He chose to inherit Mazio and Maeiha from Regent, making Shiisaa viable for Electricity and Curse attacks.

As he had gotten himself an Elec-based Persona in Shiisaa, he was looking to fuse one of the newly created Persona, Angel. After looking at the options, he decided to make a new Physical-based Persona, Yaksini. However, he didn't think there was any skills he thought was worthy of passing down, so he left Yaksini as is.

Lastly was Berith. He re-summoned Regent and fused it to make Orobas. Berith contributed in inheriting one skill, Double Fangs. On the other hand, Mapsi was passed down from Regent.

He decided that would be all for the time being. He had created some interesting ones and with equally as interesting fusion materials. He might use Regent as a material again in the future. He also had a thought of bringing only Regent to his explorations, but for the moment it's merely a playful thought.

He took Elizabeth to sit in the bar. It had somewhat became his favorite spot in the new Velvet Room, not that he actually wanted to have a sip of the drinks since he's technically still a minor. But he thought Margaret had a nice taste overall.

"It appears that you're showing signs of fatigue..." Elizabeth began speaking, looking a little concerned.

"It's fine. It's not like I've never been this tired before." He didn't want to trouble anyone, though.

"I can only imagine how stressful and how taxing it must be for you to conduct those excursions by yourself..." It slightly raised Elizabeth's concern.

"I'm not complaining." Minato smiled. "...After all, when the situation calls, I have to be ready."

"Astute as always..." She then shuffled to behind him and grabbed his shoulders. She lovingly ran her fingers before opening her palms and began kneading the shoulders. Minato was surprised because he had never received that kind of treatment before. The rubs applied began to feel more powerful and it went from relaxing to painful.

"What're you doing?" Minato winced.

"I believe this is what humans call a 'massage'. I heard this is one of the ways utilized to heal fatigued muscles. Do you not like it?" Elizabeth

"I do..." Minato smiled. It's rare for him to be getting a massage, not that he really needed it. He liked it regardless. "Not so powerful, though... You could crush my shoulders." Though he's aware of the difference of strength between the two of them.

"Ah, so it must be applied at a specific amount of pressure to achieve maximum relaxation?"

"Something like that..."

The rubs began to feel less crushing and more relaxing.

He never really knew how the new Velvet Room came to be, why Elizabeth was in charge of it, and how she managed to degrade her older sister to a side task.

"How did you become the master of this Velvet Room?" He asked.

"It's one of two conditions my sister accepted in order to be able to ask for your help."

"What's the other condition?"

"That they must help look after the Great Seal."

"So that's why..." Three questions answered. Actually, it's just two but it's not hard to put two and two together to figure out why the Velvet Room was set there.

She caught his eyes wandering out the window, right into the big golden door in the barren distance. "Were you expecting a Persona, or perhaps, a weapon?"

Minato chuckled. "I, no, we made that, huh...?" He recalled hearing his friends' encouragement in his literal dying moments while up in space.

Silence befell the two of them for some time while their hands lock together.

"I assume you're remembering the 'good times' as they call it?"

Minato only nodded in response. He had been wondering how his friends were doing lately. As if reading his mind, Elizabeth decided to tell a story.

"Our paths crossed once. I was searching for ways to relieve you from your burden when a fighting tournament suddenly piqued my interest. It was quite interesting, as the tournament was reserved for Persona-users only. Your companions were involved in it as well. Originally, only Margaret's guest and his companions participated, but then a group called 'Shadow Operatives' unknowingly became a part of it as well."

"'Shadow Operatives'?"

"Yes. It is a group formed by your companions. Its sole purpose is to solve otherworldly crisis that normal humans are otherwise unaware of. You could say it's a law enforcement unit for Persona-users. One of your companions, Mitsuru, founded and currently serve as their leader."

"So Mitsuru-senpai decides to take the fight..." He wasn't at all surprised. Although at first he didn't think Persona-related incidents still existed before he was brought back. "How about the others?"

"It seemed she is currently one of the few who are still fully committed to it. She understood that they are deserving of a normal life. Thus she relieved them from full commitment. Nevertheless, I'm certain they would, as they say, come running when it is urgent."

"So would I..." Minato pondered. None of them knew he had been up and around so he might have to keep it that way while still helping if he somehow he caught wind of them. He imagined the level of secrecy the group maintained. For someone maintaining a professional demeanor, he thought Mitsuru was understanding enough to at least give the others the normal life they deserved, as evident from him watching Junpei play baseball and saw a TV show Yukari was starring.

"The organization is currently in a dormant state. She worked her all to make sure it is not dissolved in any way."

"..." He assumed they're just out of work and hadn't known of Mementos. But he gave it an off-chance of them at least knowing about the mental shutdowns that had been happening a lot lately. Back to the Shadow Operatives. "Who else is still active?"

"Aigis, and another 'Anti-Shadow Weapon' named Labrys. I encountered Labrys during the fighting tournament I just mentioned. She seemed very caring, and yet strict and astute when needed be. Oh, and they address each other as sisters."

The sisters bit was surprising. Last time he heard it, Aigis was the last of her kind. He decided to not pursue the topic further and get back to the fighting tournament thing.

"What's it like...the fighting tournament?"

"It was full of energy, full of sparks, full of hormones, and full of spectacular feats reserving of Persona-users! It was an exhilarating experience! Although, I didn't stay long enough to know who emerged victorious... What I do know is your companions all survived through the event."

Minato breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know much about fighting tournaments, but it wouldn't be weird for him to think his friends might be forced to fight each other during the tournament. He knew it's something they probably couldn't avoid.

"I also had the opportunity to test Margaret's guest's ability. It was an exciting encounter, but I ended up besting him." Her face momentarily sported a smug look, then it changed into a rather melancholic one. "Then his companions came, showing the strength of bonds that reminded me of you... It may be overly blown to say this, but it was as if light emanated from him when they're together. It was a true display of an unbreakable bond they share."

It was an interesting story. On the back of his head, he wished he could've participated in the tournament for the sake of reuniting with his friends and meet Margaret's guest and his companions in person. As for Elizabeth defeating Margaret's guest, he could say it was to be expected that at least the latter would put up a fight as he did. Back then she took him to a specific spot in Tartarus for a duel, which he barely won.

He didn't know how long he had been in the Velvet Room, but the creeping sleepiness was a good enough indicator for him to call it a visit. Before he left, he checked a logbook on the round table, which apparently contained some requests the siblings had written down.

One of the requests said "Bring me an Otakaramasu". After a bit of browsing, it turned out to be a fish. Never before he had to bring a fish into the Velvet Room, but there's always a first time. The other request was simple enough, bring three cans of Mad Bull. Then there was another request, titled "Test Your Might #1". It didn't sound familiar, despite having seen something with the same tagline in a video game.

Nevertheless, he might not yet officially accept those request, but he thought there's nothing wrong with gathering the prerequisite items for the first two requests. All he had to do was sign on the request and hand in the items requested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato's list of Personas as of the end of this chapter:  
> >Lv32 Orpheus  
> Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda, Endure, Maragion, Marakukaja, Dodge Curse, Fire Boost  
> >Lv21 Suzaku  
> Skills: Frei, Marin Karin, Tarunda, Dormina, Maragi, Ominous Words  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Mafrei, Speed Master, Matarunda  
> >Lv15 Andras  
> Skills: Bufu, Tarukaja (replacing Rakunda), Mabufu, Dia, Defense Master, Sharp Student, Apt Pupil, Ice Break  
> >Lv16 Archangel  
> Skills: Psi, Hama, Dazzler  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Rebellion, Makouha, Vajra Blast  
> >Lv16 High Pixie (normal fusion Succubus x Obariyon)  
> Skills: Garu, Dormina, Media, Zio (inherited from Succubus), Dekaja (inherited from Succubus)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Diarama, Taunt, Magaru  
> >Lv16 Shiisaa (normal fusion Regent x Slime)  
> Skills: Double Fangs, Skull Cracker, Zio, Mazio (inherited from Regent), Maeiha (inherited from Regent)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Rampage, Dodge Curse, Dodge Elec  
> >Lv20 Yaksini (normal fusion Angel x Kodama)  
> Skills: Hysterical Slap, Wage War, Counter  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Marakunda, Fire Break, Makajamaon  
> >Lv17 Orobas (normal fusion Regent x Berith)  
> Skills: Maragi, Dekaja, Sukukaja, Double Fangs (inherited from Berith), Mapsi (inherited from Regent)  
> Next skill unlocked (in order): Marakunda, Fire Break, Makajamaon


	17. Looking Into the Mafia

Thursday. June 16th, 2017.

The Phantom Thieves decided to listen to the student council president, Makoto Niijima, after the whole debacle that led to them getting busted. Even so, it was still unknown why she was willing to not immediately turn them in.

As it turned out, she had a favor. She wanted them to change the heart of a mafia boss who had been using students for a scam. The news about it had spread in the student body, and the principal had been made aware of it. However, the principal delegated the student council president to take care of the problem.

The Phantom Thieves had spent the previous day digging up information in their respective schools. After some persuasion towards one of his classmate named Iida, Akira managed to find out that the problem revolved around drug trafficking. Apparently the mafia used high school students to distribute secret envelopes which contained drugs, and then blackmail them into paying off otherwise they would get exposed as the mafia had evidence of the students doing the distribution.

It's generally done during the day, where they could blend in. The police generally couldn't notice anything suspicious despite having heard about all the buzz. All in all, it didn't look like they'd ever get found out.

That day Phantom Thieves were snooping around town. The four of them scattered around Shibuya, looking to find out more about the matter. In the end, Akira was the one who managed to get more lead. He talked to a homeless man in one of the back alleys which led to him walking up to another homeless man in the station. The homeless man was surprisingly cooperative as he was knowledgeable.

After talking to the homeless man, The Phantom Thieves took a break for a little chat.

**\- IM CHAT LOG -**

**[PTs]  
Me; Ryuji Sakamoto; Ann Takamaki; Yusuke Kitagawa**

**Ann:** How's it going? Have you found anything?

 **Me:** Maybe a little. You?

 **Yusuke:** Ah, so you grasped something already? As to be expected for someone like you, Akira.

 **Ann:** Why don't we just go over the intel we've gathered so far?

 **Ryuji:** I'll start.

 **Ryuji:** Supposedly some guy near the accessway talking about some kinda "strong drugs".

 **Ryuji:** I'm not counting on anything, but I'm gonna check it out.

 **Ann:** As for me, I heard about some soliciting high-paying job in the station plaza.

 **Ann:** Apparently they're mostly targeting girls. I'll go see what it's about.

 **Yusuke:** On my end, I heard there are people saying strange things in the back alley near the arcade.

 **Yusuke:** Something about ice and vegetables, and something about snow tomorrow...

 **Yusuke:** I'll go observe, just in case. The arcade is on Central Street, correct?

 **Me:** I heard that from a know-it-all homeless man in the station just now, Yusuke.

 **Me:** I'll be right there.

 **Me:** Ann, Ryuji, stick to your part.

 **Ryuji:** Gotcha!

 **Ann:** Okay!

**\- CHAT LOG END -**

With that, they scrambled again to their designated spot. Yusuke's part matched what the homeless man just said. Despite this, Akira thought there's nothing wrong with having Ann and Ryuji dig up more somewhere else, just in case Yusuke's part didn't add up enough for the intel. Akira walked out of the station and joined Yusuke, who was already talking to a policeman at Shibuya's Central Street.

"...I was simply wondering where the arcade is. I'll be going now." Yusuke looked puzzled.

"Arcade's over there... Come on." Akira intervened.

"Arcade...? You're high school students, aren't you? You'd better not be looking for trouble. All kinds of shady activity happens at arcades." The policeman warned.

"What are you talking about...? It's nothing more than a place you go to play games..." Yusuke replied, still looking puzzled.

"Sorry, Sir. He's not too familiar with the area. He wants to try out the new fighting game that just dropped." Akira realized it's time to end the conversation and took Yusuke away. "We'll be careful."

They walked together until they reached the arcade.

"Never been to an arcade before?" Akira started a small talk.

"It has been a long time since..." Yusuke replied. "Anyway, this is the arcade, right? Then they should be around here somewhere..."

"Let's split up and look." Akira proposed. "Don't accept anything if they approach you, OK?" Yusuke nodded and then they went their separate ways.

Akira chose to look in the back alley across the arcade, while Yusuke resorted to looking around the back alley right beside the arcade. The back alley Akira was at was practically empty, save for the fitness center. No one was hanging out there. The one Yusuke was at was rife with activities as he saw two Shujin students get approached by guys in civilian outfits.

After looking around the back alley, someone approached him. It's the student council president. "Hello."

"Hi, senpai." Akira turned around.

"Have you made any progress toward finding the boss?" She asked.

"Heard a few things here and there, but generally I haven't found much." He answered with honesty.

"So you haven't made much progress." She sounded a little disappointed.

"They're hard to find...that's how mafia works. Cut me some slack."

Suddenly a stranger approached them. "Hey, you two got some time? I have a great job for you." From the way he dressed, he looked like at best a delinquent. "It's real easy. Guess you could call it a delivery job."

"It seems we didn't have to look very hard in the end." She thought it just fell right into her hands, so she subconsciously went into detective mode.

"You're high schoolers, yeah? Don't you want something more than just your allowances?" The stranger asked again. Akira was tempted to say he beat up Shadows for a side job and all, but he skirted it.

"Hm...by delivery, do you mean that of suspicious materials?" The president asked innocently.

"Heh, you're a funny girl." The stranger pretended to not know what she meant.

"So you won't answer me? Then I was right..." She deduced.

"Eh?" The stranger walked up to her, their gazes met each other. "What's up with you anyways? Why're you asking all these questions, huh?"

"Hey, lay off her or I'll call the cops." Akira shoved her away, and in turn stared back at the stranger.

"...It was all a joke. Why would I get worked up over some dumb kids?" The stranger backpedaled. "Anyways, I can't hang. Seeya!"

"U-um, if you don't want to deal with us, we could always go see your boss ourselves." She still tried to bargain.

"Shut up! You're really gonna say that, knowing who he is? Heh, no way I'll believe that." The stranger taunted. "Welp, I'm outta here. You guys are annoying me."

The stranger walked away. At one point, Akira was glad the stranger left them alone. On the other, the student council president was hurting his chances.

"I'm pretty sure he's the part of mafia we're looking for." She looked at Akira, who was facepalming hard. "What?"

"Nothing...It was pretty obvious." He stopped the facepalming.

"I tried to trick him into saying something, but he dodged all the traps I was laying down." The council president pondered.

"They're not that stupid. You don't know how to street-talk, huh?" While the frizzy-haired transfer student looked disappointed. He knew her demeanor would never fly.

"I see... I'll be more careful next time." Something about what he just said just didn't register into her head. "By the way...thanks for standing up to me. I'm going to go now." But she thanked him anyway as she left the scene.

"Wait, senpai." He followed her out of the alley and offered to ensure her safety at least until she boarder her train home. "I'll walk you to the station."

Friday. June 17th, 2017.

It was finally the end of school for the day. Minato and the two peas in a pod known as Konoe and Tony had a little chat as they're packing up. Makoto was nowhere to be seen.

"Haven't you heard?" Konoe packed his bag.

"Heard what? Niijima arguing with the principal or Niijima's steadily decreasing rating of approval?" Tony tried to guess what Konoe was on about.

"Well, there are those...but I'm talking about some students getting caught up in some shady shit." Turned out it was neither.

"What kind of 'shady' you're talking about?" Tony asked.

"Shady, as in, mafia-level shady..." Konoe elaborated. "That's right... Some of our students had been getting blackmailed by the mafia."

"How so?" It intrigued Tony's interest.

"It began when they're told to run some sort of an envelope, said it's easy money. The victims accepted it. But over time, they're told to pay up or else they'd get snitched out." Konoe explained.

"So it's the classic scam..." Tony concluded.

Silence befell as they, along with Minato, finished packing up their bags.

"Speaking of Niijima, where is she?" Makoto had been immediately disappearing after the bell over the course of that week. Normally she'd be talking to her classmates before going to do whatever she wanted to do next.

"Student council room, maybe? She's been under a lot of pressure lately..." Konoe sounded worried. He then turned to Minato. "That reminds me... Yuki, What's with Prez-san dragging you around over the past week and this Monday?"

"Just doing a little favor, nothing personal." Minato knew he mustn't ever mention that he helped Makoto getting dirt on the Phantom Thieves.

"...Nothing personal, huh?" Konoe looked intently at Minato. "Well, can't blame her for actually asking for help for change. She usually takes all of it in her stride, it's crazy."

"Maybe that's why her rating of approval is dropping?" Tony deduced.

"Probably not..." Konoe deadpanned. "They're secretly a bunch of lazyasses, those council members. I feel bad for Niijima-san."

"You're not the only one..." Tony seemed to have the same sense of pity towards Makoto. "I still haven't apologized to her for what I said the other day."

Konoe and Minato recalled Tony saying Makoto was playing "yes man" to the principal. "Man, I know you're holding some truth in that, but that's just rude. At least wait until no one's around to say it."

"I know..." Tony's head dropped. "It's just...like I said, it's irritating how resigned she is to it."

Minato was just listening to the two's conversation, finding it unnecessary to butt in like usual.

As the three of them was about to leave the room, some of their classmates approached them.

"Tony! Konoe! Yuki!" One of the classmates called to them. "We're going to karaoke! Wanna join? It's dirt cheap at this hour."

The three of them thought about it for a minute. Then Konoe delivered the first response. "Under one condition: Everyone must perform at least once!"

The classmate responded back. "Isn't that obvious?"

"Then I'm game, man." Konoe accepted it.

"I've been wanting to go to karaoke for some time, so I'm in." Tony was next. He looked at Minato for his answer. "Karaoke, Yuki?"

"Sure, why not?" Minato didn't have anything to do that day, so he decided to go along.

* * *

Since the student council president busted them in their previous meeting place, they decided to change it up. They're currently in the karaoke. As much as it's loud from the surroundings, at least it gave them the privacy they needed. They could finally discuss Phantom Thief business without worrying someone might hear them.

"For real!? We didn't get anything?" Ryuji was nonplussed with the very little progress they made so far.

Meanwhile Ann couldn't focus as it was blaring with the sound from next door, which was like random noises. "God, they suck..."

"Man, we're goin' nowhere with this..." Again, Ryuji was still nonplussed. "Hey, can't we ask Miss President to change it up?"

"You mean, change our target?" Ann asked.

"We just gotta show our justice to satisfy her, right? There are tons of shitty adults in this world. It's not like it matters who we're goin' after." Ryuji spoke his point. "She says this is for the students, but I bet it's just so she can go brag about it in the college apps."

"Stop being so flaky and naive, you monkey!" Morgana hissed. "Remember what's at stake!"

"What did you just call me, you little-"

"Stop it, you two." Akira pushed Morgana and Ryuji away. "Let's focus on what's at hand, Ryuji. We can do it. I need you to not be such a defeatist for once."

Ryuji calmed down and remembered the implications. Not just to Akira, but to him and the others. "Sorry, dude...I know..."

"The mafia's stealing money from kids. We can't just accept that! It doesn't matter who the target came from anymore." Ann drove the point home.

"Ann's right." Yusuke concurred. "We want to give courage to the weak. Isn't this the perfect target to accomplish that goal?"

"There! Thank you!" Akira tapped the table, agreeing to Yusuke. After all, that's their supposed goal. "That's why we just can't turn a blind eye on this, regardless of what'll happen to us. This is our chance!"

Silence befell the room as they got distracted by what sounded like a nice flow from the next room.

Ann seemed to know the song, although only partly, then she sang along "...All the way to the very end..."

"Y'know this song, Ann?"

"Only partially, though." Ann replied.

As they could hear the second verse, they all start bobbing their heads to the flow as they could hear the rapping from the next room.

"Is it me, or is it getting hot in here?" The room was well air-conditioned, but Morgana felt otherwise.

"I don't know who's in there, but shit's fire, yo!" Ryuji had to agree.

"I do not sense a rise in temperature... But I am enjoying it." Yusuke of course didn't know what the two mean yet he's aware that someone was doing well in the next room.

Akira normally wasn't a fan of the genre, but even he had to concur. "Get me...some water..."

"Shall I administer some ice...?" Yusuke offered.

"Not with your Persona!" Ann refused.

"That might work..." While Akira seemed to like the idea.

"Never thought it'd be this noisy if you weren't singin' though..." Ryuji's mind wondered while still bobbing his head.

* * *

 _Occasionally I mis-behave with him unwitted little bit ignorant indicating_  
That I didn't really really really understand ying and yang good and bad  
_Who's bad?_  
_All on me in the end of the day_

 _Bottom line I've got to paint it my way_  
Like Shakespeare, Picasso, like Monet  
Battle goes on in this midsummer night  
Against the unknown I'm ready to fight

The whole audience in that room, guys and girls, was in awe with what they're currently witnessing from the very beginning Minato stepped up to the podium, his rapping. With one hand on the mic, the other throwing signs, he spat fire all over the room. No one knew he even liked rap, nor did they knew he had the ability to rap. Plus, the song he picked was quite old yet it still sounded good compared to what they usually listen to lately.

As he finished the second chorus, thus ending the song, everyone clapped, with the guys had a bit of banter, spraying water on each other.

"Dude, get the fire extinguisher! Shit's on fire!"

"No, we get the fire department for this!"

"Yo, the AC broke! It's too hot!"

Minato nonchalantly sat down to the view of everyone, boys and girls, still losing it over what they just saw. He might not show it, but it felt good especially after dropping the bars.

"That's amazing, dude! I thought a guy like you'd be into metal." Tony handed Minato a bottle of water.

"Thanks." Minato took the bottle. "I listen to a lot of stuff, including some metal..."

"You gotta share your playlist some time, man..." Konoe embraced him by his shoulder. "Bet you got some more of that fire!"

"Personal space..." Minato sighed. He could hear others muttering about his performance as the next guy picked a song to perform.

* * *

The Phantom Thieves had cooled down minutes after the rapping was over. They then continued talking about why they should keep at the case, with one key point being they must shut up Goro Akechi. But with the lack of intel, it was quite difficult.

Then it hit Ann that they might know someone who was knowledgeable: the journalist they first met when they're snooping around Madarame's house. Akira pulled out the name card, from which they learned the journalist's name, Ichiko Ohya.

They were running out of time, and running out of source. There was no other way. With that, Akira messaged the journalist. Then all they had to do was wait. As their time in the room was up, they decided to leave. Ryuji was tempted to try and replicate the rapping from just now, but he figured it was probably done by a pro and decided to flake out.

Saturday. June 18th, 2017.

The journalist, Ichiko Ohya, responded to Akira's message that evening. It was a lot faster than expected. She agreed to meet and discuss right there and then when Akira just arrived back home. The location, a bar in Shinjuku. On the side, Yusuke had also managed to get the name of someone who posted a Phan-Site thread about a group of burglars in Shibuya, Kazuya Makigami. All they had to do was change his heart in Mementos. It would be done in due time. For the time being, they still had the mafia to tackle as they hadn't even obtained the boss' name.

Shinjuku was a world of night time activity, and it's not ideal for a high school student to be wandering around the area. Knowing that, Akira got changed from his school outfit to a normal civilian outfit. Ryuji agreed to come with him, while Yusuke was broke as usual to even consider participating. Akira excused Yusuke and decided Ryuji was enough company. Plus, the smaller the party, the better.

After getting changed, Akira, with Morgana on his back, set for the station where Ryuji was waiting. Bad news was Ryuji didn't get changed, knowing where they're going.

"Alright, let's go!" Ryuji wanted to get it out of the way fast.

"Don't 'let's go' me! You're still in your uniform!" Morgana was obviously disappointed at Ryuji just like usual.

"No choice. I didn't have the time to go home." Ryuji wondered why it's a problem. "People aren't gonna notice anyways with this T-shirt over it."

"This, Ryuji...is why we got busted the other day. We need to cut down on that behavior." He sighed. Rather than complaining, they should be on their way. "Whatever, let's just go."

"I'm just saying now, I won't be to blame when you get caught by the cops." Morgana warned.

"Don't worry about it. That place ain't so different from Shibuya." Ryuji guaranteed they'd be fine.

"You're the guide..." Akira rolled his eyes. He's sincerely hoping they'd be fine.

"We should hop on the JL. It's go time!" They approached the ticket machine and got their tickets for the subway.

Some one hour later, only Akira and Morgana arrived at the bar. Ryuji was nowhere to be seen as he was sacrificed to the wild beasts of Shinjuku in order to throw those beasts off their tail. Akira didn't feel sorry about it because it's a forced necessity, and because Ryuji had been quite annoying with his naivete lately. He thought it would serve as a lesson.

"Welcome, welcome!" The bar owner greeted Akira. She immediately could tell he's a minor. "How old are ya, boy?"

"Sorry, Lala-chan. He's with me." Someone intervened. It's the journalist. She led Akira to a secluded table in the bar for them to be able to talk privately.

After a little small talk, Ichiko revealed the name of the mafia boss, Junya Kaneshiro. In exchange, she wanted to make a new scoop revolving around Kamoshida's case. Therefore, she wished to speak to someone who's on the receiving end of Kamoshida's abuse at the school. That's when Akira decided to send another one to the slaughter, someone he trusted: his classmate, the Phan-Site administrator Yuuki Mishima. He fit the description, so there's that.

The talk was over rather quickly, as Akira and Morgana couldn't wait any longer to leave the establishment for a time being. After a little toast, and a warning, they parted ways with the journalist.

Sunday. June 19th, 2017.

Minato was in the Velvet Room, submitting the request of bringing three cans of Mad Bull. In fact, he didn't just get three cans. He brought in three six-packs of Mad Bull for everyone to enjoy. It's an overkill, but the Velvet Siblings accepted it regardless. The reward, a pair of gauntlets Theo made in his spare time.

Although there wasn't much else to do, he decided to stick around, much to his and Elizabeth's mutual entertainment. He also conversed with Margaret and Theo, who were getting to enjoy his company with every visit.

Ever since the siblings talked about the possibility of the a world separate from Mementos appearing whether he was in the Velvet Room or in the real world, he had been getting himself ready for it. Over the course of the week, he had been smuggling a bag containing his Metaverse getup in the station lockers. He would then switch bags after school and have a stroll around Tokyo until it's getting dark out. In case he walked into one of those worlds by accident, he could get changed immediately.

Needless to say, the current situation never happened, until that day. The three siblings suddenly felt something.

"It seems the exact predicament we discussed before is currently taking place." Elizabeth spoke.

That could only mean one thing: One of those worlds had emerged and was currently infiltrated. Minato only had one potential suspect, or rather, suspects in mind, the Phantom Thieves. Maybe next time the siblings shouldn't have jinxed it. Nevertheless, he's not looking to place the blame on them.

Before he decided what to do, he asked a question.

"So I gotta get out of that place too as soon as I'm outta here, or would it eventually go away?"

The Velvet Siblings shrugged. "We apologize, this is something we're not familiar with. It is truly the first time this has happened."

With that in mind, Minato had no choice but to find out himself. As he decided to conclude the visit, he quickly took out his Metaverse getup from the bag he had been carrying with him all day and got changed. He put on everything, complete with the hoodie, the half-face mask, and the bangs clipped up. In place of the tactical gloves, the new pair of gauntlets. Non-important items would have to be left in the Velvet Room for the time being. He would have to get back in and pick them up at a later time.

"Ah, so this is how you dress for your explorations..." Margaret examined him from top to bottom.

"Such meticulous preparation to achieve stealth and anonymity..." Elizabeth admired it.

"How do the gauntlets feel?" While Theo wanted to know how his creation felt hands-on.

"They're great." The gauntlets' design was rather simplistic. They're mainly made of leather with belt buckle mechanism attached to the ends to secure them in place. The forearm section didn't have any padding, but the knuckles had protection installed. Minato performed some punches to test them out. "...really great. Thanks, Theo."

"I am most pleased to hear it." Theo smiled, puffing his chest forward.

With no time wasted, Minato bid his farewell and walked to the door, preparing himself for whatever was behind it. Elizabeth accompanied him to the door.

"Wish me luck." Minato sighed and smiled at Elizabeth.

"You bet your sweet bippy I am." Elizabeth replied, followed by a giggle. The giggle settled Minato's mood. They kissed, then he opened the door to the outside world. "Be safe, dear."


	18. Just "Some Other Guy"

Sunday. June 19th, 2017.

Minato exited the Velvet Room to the sight of the usual Shibuya's Central Street. Though, things quickly began looking different once he's out of the alley. He saw what looked like money flying into the air. He trailed one bill and found where all the money was flying to: a big structure hovering above the buildings. He deduced whatever it was floating in the sky was probably housing the controlling factor of the world he's currently in.

Other than that, the skies were green, similar to the Dark Hour. But overall, it's different. No gigantic moon in sight, and electronics were still working as evident from the lit-up streets, signs, and billboards.

Then, in the distance, he spotted the ones he suspected of spawning and infiltrating the world, the Phantom Thieves. Fortunately, they didn't spot him as they're seen checking out some of the walking ATMs. He decided he needed to hide to keep himself from being seen. He jumped over some of the ATMs lying on the floor and got down a staircase near the cinema which supposedly lead to an underground station in the real world. However, the staircase was going to a dead end in that world, and the Phantom Thieves were approaching. As a last resort, he decided to lie down on his belly against the staircase. He hoped the darkness of the place combined with his generally dark clothing was enough to make him unseen.

He could sense the Phantom Thieves getting closer to his hiding spot, checking out said ATMs. Without even attempting to eavesdrop, he could also hear what they're talking about.

"This is terrible... All of these are real people...right?"

"What the hell..."

"I don't think we can talk to any of the ones here..."

Judging from the fading sound of footsteps, he deduced they had walked away from the spot. He popped out of the staircase, but remained hidden behind the lying ATMs, to this time try and eavesdrop on the Phantom Thieves who were standing near the cinema, looking at all the ATMs lying around.

"Tch... Are all these guys Kaneshiro's victims!?"

"That would appear to be the case, but there is nobody we can speak to, let alone a bank anywhere... Let us try checking around the station once more. We may have overlooked something important."

As the Phantom Thieves started to turn back, he went back into hiding in the dark staircase. Should the layout of the Central Street stayed the same as its real world counterpart, he deduced they came from the station. He decided not to come out yet, resorting to sit in his hiding for a while until he declared it's safe to come out.

About fifteen minutes later, he slowly came out of hiding. He wanted to stick around and check some more, but he'd rather not so he decided to find an exit. The Phantom Thieves were no longer seen, which made him wonder whether simply walking to the station square would lead him out of the world.

Even so, he couldn't just stroll towards the destination. If anything, he should be careful. The ATMs might not have telltale signs of hostility yet there was always the possibility of something or someone appearing. Goro Akechi sprung to his mind as he carefully moved from one cover to another.

He finally reached what presumably was the Phantom Thieves' starting point. The way there was uneventful, something he was relieved of. Not that he wasn't ready, rather, any kinds of encounter would just be bothersome. He took a step towards the station, and he emerged in the real world, right in the middle of the station square. Apparently it hadn't been that long since he exited the Velvet Room and entered the world he just came out of, evident from the sunny sky above. As he was finally back in the real world, it's time to return to the Velvet Room to get changed back into his normal outfit, take his belongings home, and report what he had seen.

After reporting, he spent some more time in the Velvet Room before going home. The thing that just happened made him wary of something. For that, he came to Margaret who was managing the bar.

"You seem to have an important matter to discuss..." Margaret was wiping the bar when Minato came to her.

"Is there a way to conceal my powers for a short while?" Minato went straight to it.

"What for?" It's a rare case for someone with such power to ask how to conceal it.

"...I have a hunch that I might have to do it soon." Minato briefly explained. The fact that the world was spawned while he was in the Velvet Room and that he immediately stepped into it upon exit was an eye-opener to all the possibilities.

Margaret paused, recalling Minato's report on the Phantom Thieves' first operation with Suguru Kamoshida as the target. She decided to test whether he still remembered.

"Have you forgotten how you fought through the castle to reach the new wild card and his companions?"

As he recalled correctly, it hit him that he never had to use his Persona on the way to reaching the Phantom Thieves, and his mask only appeared when he wanted it to. But the catch was that the mask initially didn't appear because it just didn't. It was never his decision to hide the mask in the first place.

"Precisely." Margaret commended, followed by a slight chuckle. "Yet another possibility to be explored... You truly never cease to amaze."

The fact that the mask appeared when he only wanted it to back at the Castle made him think. Maybe there was a way to conceal the power for a short while, and it might require him to either intentionally hold back or put the thought of using Personas on the back of his head. As Margaret didn't say anything else, it's down to him to figure it out on his own, again.

With that in mind, he got changed back to his normal outfit and put the Metaverse getup back into the bag. Shortly afterwards, he decided to go home.

On his way home, he recalled hearing a name from the result of his eavesdropping, Kaneshiro. Presumably, that might be the name of the one in charge of that world. In addition, there was also the issue regarding the mafia which he heard from Konoe and Tony, and Makoto from before as well. He hunched that this Kaneshiro might be a part of the mafia. If that turned out to be the case, then the Phantom Thieves had their work cut out for them, he deduced.

Monday. June 20th, 2017.

There had been no changes in Mementos, forcing Minato to put his grinding into a halt. That wasn't going to stop him from doing some training, however. He decided he'd better go to the fitness center again. Not just for the treadmill, but for the punching bag and the weights the establishment had.

Before he could walk into his destination, he saw Makoto entering the Teikyu building, only to came out about a minute later. From her expression, she looked livid. To add to that, the student council president's steps were getting quicker as he walked away from the building and into Central Street. Instinctively, he could tell something didn't feel right, therefore, he decided to follow her. Just as he was about to get up from the bench, he saw a familiar group exiting the same building. He assumed they had just met, something happened, and it prompted her to act on her own. As the familiar group walked to Central Street as well, he got up and started walking in the same direction to try and find the student council president on his own. Though he looked like he couldn't care less, he had a hunch something might happen and that her safety was at stake.

Whilst the familiar group stopped midway, he decided to keep walking. He tried checking the establishments but she was nowhere to be found. The search eventually lead him to the same alley where the fitness center was located. There, the student council president was seen arguing with two unknown people as a car backed up into the alley. The group in question were still lost somewhere.

There was no time to worry about them. It's up to him to stop whatever might happen to her. He approached the commotion, grabbed the student council president by the shoulder, and pushed her aside. He didn't say much, just locked his dead look on one of the unknown men she was confronting. Even from the look of it, he could tell they were hostile.

"Yuki-kun!?" The student council president realized who was helping him. She had gotten familiar with the bluenette and his normally apathetic look.

"Who the fuck are you, punk!?" One of them stared at the guy crashing in.

"You looking for trouble!?" The other stranger grabbed him on his shoulder with one hand, and pulled out something, pointing it at his torso. Whatever it was, it didn't make him flinch or anything. Even the stranger was surprised as he was disgusted of the emotionless face.

She was surprised at how calm he was. She looked down at the object pointed at him, then to his face. To her, it's as much astonishing as it's eerie that he looked uninterested and dead without looking at whatever it was pointed at him. She also saw the rather challenged look at the guys she was confronting. Realizing things might escalate into something she didn't want happening, she shoved him back, taking his place. "It's okay...I have to do this myself. Just take me! This doesn't concern him..."

"You heard the girl! So back off!" The two presumably hostile guys backpedaled, grabbed the student council president and shoved her into the car.

Behind him, the group from earlier just arrived at the alley as he watched the car drive away. Without even looking at them, he walked to the main street, already on the phone, while all the chattering took place in the background.

"I need a taxi. It's urgent." He already knew beforehand that she was asking that group for help anyway, so he called the taxi company, knowing they might want to come along. It was also be quite convenient to have the jump in numbers. He didn't know what's going to happen had they weren't there.

_"May I know your pickup location?"_

"Shibuya, Central Street."

_"Thank you for calling, a taxi has been dispatched to your pickup location...arriving shortly!"_

Minato just stood there on the sidewalks while the group behind him came running towards where he was standing. They obviously looked worried.

"Ryuji! Get a taxi! I'll-"

He could sense the urgency in them as a taxi pulled up right where they were standing.

"You ordered a taxi?" The driver opened the passenger window, looking at Minato.

"Whoa, that's fast!"

"Wait, we haven't even made a-"

Just as predicted, they were going to follow the student council president. He jumped into the front passenger seat leaving the group confused at the convenience.

"Get in!" One of them hurried everyone to get in the rear seat. Fortunately, they were just about able to squeeze themselves in.

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"Follow the black car exiting this alley just now. It's going that way." Minato gave the instruction.

The taxi immediately raced away. It didn't take them long to find the aforementioned car as the traffic didn't allow motorists to drive at a high speed. Minato pointed out as soon as said car was in sight and the driver adjusted the distance between them accordingly.

Everyone was mostly silent along the way. He could feel the intensity coming from the rear seat, all the more affirmation of the anxiety they're currently feeling. He glanced at the taxi driver, who looked poised while maintaining a safe distance between the cars. He deduced maybe it's not the first time he was told to follow a car.

The taxi stopped quite far from where the aforementioned car had stopped. The group in the rear seat immediately jumped out as Minato paid the fare. He then followed the party into the building where the student council president was taken to. He caught up as they were confronting each other, ignoring all the gazes of everyone he walked past.

He was greeted with the scene of Makoto lying on the floor, held down by the same people that took her away, and a fat man with a girl in his embrace.

"Better thank those guys."

"What...?"

"I'm royally pissed right now. Can you tell? You know how spending money relieves stress?"

The fat man raised the phone he was holding. Then, the camera flashed. The guy just took a picture of the group of students in front of him. It looked like everyone was in the shot, including Minato.

"I think I'll call it...'Debauchery of Minors at a Club'. So, can I send this to your school?" The fat man looked at the photo. Minato realized that they just walked right into it. "Oh, damn, I got booze and cigs in the shot! Maybe some drugs too?" Upon closer inspection, the photo got more and more incriminating. That wasn't what Minato had in mind. He might be royally screwed if that photo ever came out. Nevertheless, he, along with the others, decided to hear the fat man out.

It then turned into the classic extortion scheme. The fat man who was actually Kaneshiro, demanded three million yen out of the group. It's the same amount of money he gave the girl in his embrace. He wanted it delivered in three weeks otherwise the photo would be leaked. After that, the students were sent away. Luckily, nobody thought of anything funny and no one was hurt. Maybe Makoto, but only a little.

Considering what happened, they got off easy since they're all still in one piece. Problem was a hefty debt had been placed on them. One thing was for sure, they're not going to pay it. In addition, Minato feared those people would just keep feeding at them, which ended up with them getting snitched in the end anyway. What just happened had all but put his assignment in jeopardy.

Though, he didn't panic at all. He looked at the bright side: he knew about that world and the Phantom Thieves' job. He deduced that maybe they and the student council president can be mutually as beneficial towards each other.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to drag you in like this..." Makoto apologized.

"For real." The blondie was still at a loss.

"I was stupid..." Then she continued.

"I must agree. You should've easily imagined this happening." The tall man wearing blue retorted. It's hard to disagree with him. The same could be said for Minato, but he'd leave the reprimanding to a certain party instead.

"Hey, Yusuke..." The other girl spoke up. She thought it was rude to say that to her face.

"He's right, Ann." The new wild card defended his taller friend.

"I was so caught up in trying to be useful..." The student council president explained why she did that.

"All right! Enough of the blame game! What's done is done." The blondie would rather just move on from all that.

"I'm gonna cause trouble for sis too."

Makoto admitted that she felt useless and that she wanted to prove otherwise. The twin-tailed girl felt the sentiment as she related it to around the time when a student rumored to be her best friend attempted suicide. Then it hit them that Makoto didn't have a place to belong either just like the Phantom Thieves. The "no place to belong" part would serve as the aspect Makoto and the Phantom Thieves had in common, something Minato also realized as the conversation went its course. He wanted to do a moment of relation, but he figured it's best saved for when he's alone or in the Velvet Room.

After all the talks, their attention shifted towards him. It wouldn't be surprising that they had a lot to ask, especially on how he also got caught up in all the fiasco. "Who're you? You're from Shujin, right?" The blondie asked and looked at him from top to bottom.

"I think he's a Shujin student, Ryuji..." The new wild card remarked. Minato could see the new wild card examining him from the distance. After all, they were once sitting in the same room, albeit under a different circumstance.

Makoto stood alongside Minato. The former introduced the latter. "...This is Makoto Yuki. The third-year transfer student at Shujin, and my classmate."

It was news for the Phantom Thieves they're currently with.

"...You're a senpai!?" The twin tailed girl was shocked. The response sounded like she had heard of the third-year transfer student before, just not the third-year part.

"You two share the same first name...are you somewhat related?" The tall guy in blue wondered.

"That only works for surnames, Yusuke." Again, the new wild card corrected.

"...Aren't you gonna say anything, Yuki-kun?" Makoto looked at the bluenette.

"..." Minato would've introduced himself but someone jumped the gun. And it's not like he really had anything to say other than what they already knew.

"N-nice to meet you, Yuki-senpai." The twin tailed girl did a mock bow. Minato nodded in reply.

"Weren't you the one sitting beside Niijima-senpai in the student council room?" The frizzy hair recalled.

"...I didn't hear anything, though." With the new wild card, Minato knew he had to be careful. He decided to just play dumb and play along with it.

"I only had him accompany me for security reasons." The student council president answered in her classmate's stead.

"It's not like I was going to attack you, senpai..." The new wild card sweatdropped, recalling the interrogation. Some of the convicted criminal reputation still remained in his name.

Silence fell on the scene for a bit, then the blondie spoke up out of nowhere about something which surely was supposed to be kept secret.

"If only we could do something about that bank..."

"Ryuji...!"

Minato exhaled. Apparently that what's hovering up in the sky in that world, a bank, which made sense. He didn't really show any expression, but deep down he was disappointed with how easy that was due to the blondie's sloppiness. The rest of them sans Makoto probably shared the same sentiment.

"Bank...?" Of course the student council president didn't know what they meant.

"Oh right, the bank!" They didn't know it, but the bluenette definitely heard the cat speak instead of meow. "She isn't useless at all! She may be our key in!"

"Our key in? What do you mean?" If he recalled correctly, the thing they're talking about was hovering up in the sky. Unless someone could fly, there was no way they could reach it. Maybe she might grant them the needed access...

"A cat...?" Meanwhile Makoto wasn't sure if the party in front of him had loose screws or it's just her imagination. "Um, are you all OK...?"

The explanation from the cat continued with others following up.

"We've become Kaneshiro's targets. That means we've become customers of Kaneshiro's bank!"

"I see. The reason why we couldn't enter before was because we weren't considered his customers..."

"And wouldn't you say that she in particular is a special customer?"

"Let's take her with us. She's responsible for our current situation." The frizzy hair came to the decision rather quickly. Minato would've done the same in his position.

"Whoa, I don't follow this at all..." The blondie kicked one leg, looking confused. Minato didn't realize the guy was that slow on top of being sloppy.

"She risked her life doing something so reckless. At the very least, she has the right to know." The tall guy pointed. "Won't you come with us?"

"What? Wait...to where?" Makoto became increasingly more puzzled.

"...How about the other guy?" They turned their attention to the bluenette again.

"Oh, right! What did you do in the alley, Yuki-senpai?" The twin-tailed girl asked the important question towards Minato.

"I tried to stop her...but she refused." Minato was brief about it.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this too, Yuki-kun." Makoto, for the umpteenth time, apologized. Minato raised a hand, signaling her to get over it.

"So what about it? Should we take him too?" The twin-tailed girl asked again.

"He was there first to stop Niijima-senpai...and he also helped take us to where she's taken to. As a token of gratitude, he also deserves to know." The new wild card came to his decision so it's up to Minato whether he'd like to come along or not.

"I agree, Akira." The cat didn't seem to mind.

"Then, won't you come with us too, Yuki-san?" The tall guy offered.

Minato sighed. He realized he's into this as much as everyone else. Plus, leaving them right there and then would make him suspicious. "Alright." There was no other way.

"Where are we goin'?"

"Beats me..."

Minato internally facepalmed at the blondie as they started walking. He found it astounding that his processing was slow. He had the urge to compare the blondie to Junpei, but he figured that would be a low blow for the latter, so he skirted it aside.

He knew where they're going, so it's about time to try out what he thought he could do after discussing with Margaret: concealing his powers. He decided to do it by not thinking about Personas at all, instead acting like he's just some other guy like he's supposed to in his current situation. It might sound too simple and overly convenient, but it's his best shot.

Next thing he knew, he was back in that world, with people around him, and without the proper outfit for it. Speaking of clothing, the two third-years retained their school outfits. The others' outfits transform into distinctive ones that looked bespoke. It's the first time Minato actually saw them in their fancy getup in person. But, there was no time for that, he had to concentrate on being "some other guy".

"A canine!?" Makoto looked at the change of outfits. The one that struck her first was the tall guy, wearing primarily blue with a fox mask.

"It's Fox." The tall guy corrected.

"Fox?" That gained Minato's curiosity as "some other guy" or not.

"It's...complicated, senpai." The new wild card skirted the question, as if trying to avoid spilling the beans.

"Be quiet. The shadows are going to notice us." Next was the cat, which turned into something that looked like a stuffed toy.

"A monster cat!?" Yet another thing Makoto couldn't believe was seeing.

The monster cat was left stunned.

"That's Morgana, the cat that was in Akira's bag. This is what happens when we come here." Then the twin-tailed girl, dressed in a red catsuit explained and introduced the monster cat.

"That voice...Takamaki-san?" Makoto finally realized they're the same group of people. "Where are we...?"

"We're inside Kaneshiro's...well, the 'world' inside his heart." The red girl provided the best answer she could.

"...What?" It would take Makoto some time to stomach the info. Whilst concentrating on being "some other guy", Minato tried his best to collect any information available. Therefore, he kept quiet while looking at the thing hovering above them.

"It's another reality in which Kaneshiro's distorted desires have materialized." Another explanation followed from the tall guy. Minato caught it rather well for someone who's supposed to act like a stranger in a strange land.

"...Another reality?" Followed by Makoto getting more puzzled. She turned around, then looked up, finding the giant thing in the sky with money flying towards it. "It's floating in the air!? Th-This is reality!? My goodness..."

"In this case, it's a bank. Kamoshida's was a castle, Madarame's was a museum." The new wild card added since she already knew who their previous targets were. "The previous two no longer exist, though..."

"I'm sorry. It's just...since this really exists, I can't doubt it." It took Makoto a few seconds to even remotely understood what's going on. But it's a good thing she didn't end up passing out or anything. "A reality that one's heart shows..." Then came the summary of what the worlds actually were, which was aptly put by the student council president.

"In short, yeah..." The new wild card concurred.

"Is it like the application of optical illusions in social cognitive psychology...?" Makoto fired another question, which left everyone puzzled. It's obvious no one had thought of it that far ahead. Though, Minato thought of looking into it later.

There's quite a lot for Makoto to absorb, so they let her take a breather and look around with the red girl and the living stuffed cat accompanying her. The boys, including Minato, chose to wait in front of one of the establishments. Minato stood quite a distance away and wished to not be bothered until the girls came back. He put on his earphones and listened to some music to further shut himself off.

After taking Makoto for a little tour, the new wild card with the help of the little companion gave the new visitors a crash course. Little did they knew Minato wasn't new to the place, or even to the Metaverse at all. In any case, he should concentrate on maintaining his sense of apathy in all that.

"I see...so 'stealing one's heart'..." Another term coined. "That my be like overwriting their cognition... I think I kind of get the logic behind it."

"Ain't she more amazin' than you?" The blondie looked at the living stuffed cat. It's clear that the he was taking a dig at their cute companion.

"W-we're about the same!" The monster cat defended itself.

"Then, does that mean there's an ATM version of myself somewhere in this world too?" Makoto asked again.

"Perhaps." The monster cat didn't discount the possibility. "Regarless, we can change Kaneshiro's heart and make him confess if we steal his Treasure... If it all goes well, that is." Apparently, that's their modus operandi, making the name "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" somewhat fitting.

"We'll make it go well." The blondie was getting pumped.

"Someone's optimistic..." The frizzy-haired boy snarled.

"Everyone'll notice us for sure if we take someone like Kaneshiro down!" The blondie was getting over-pumped.

"We're here to clear our names. Fame can come later." The new wild card reminded.

"Our justice will also become resolute." The tall guy added.

"Think we'd be able to give courage to those in need if it happens?" Followed by the twin-tailed girl.

"For the sake of those in need, huh? You sound like my father." Hearing that took her back.

"Your father?" The red girl so far seemed to be the most curious of Makoto.

"No, don't mind me..." Makoto skirted it aside. It seemed personal from everyone's perspective.

"...You have any questions, senpai?" Meanwhile, Minato had been silent the entire time, making everyone unsure whether he was following or not. His act as "some other guy" seemed to be convincing enough.

"I'm more worried about what's up there." Was his reply as he looked up to the floating thing.

"You want to go that bank, right? Let's go then. If I've become the customer of that bank, then they'll have to let me in." Makoto steeled herself and walked towards the floating thing.

Surprisingly enough, it began descending until it's low enough to roll down a staircase to the ground like it's a red carpet.

"It came to us...!"

"For real...!?"

"It's just as I calculated."

With that, the Phantom Thieves had finally gained access to it. As for Minato, he really had no choice but to go along with it.

"You know how you can use your cards to get into banks during after hours?" Minato would've said no to that question. "I thought that I'd be able to get in since I have the same identity as such customers. I'm Kaneshiro's source of revenue, after all." The student council president added.

"Ah, that makes sense." The tall guy, or "Fox", comprehended.

"But wow, this place is huge." The red girl looked at the building in front of them. Admittedly, it was huge. Though it still paled to a certain tower Minato knew.

"I rarely gotta go to the bank, so...this's makin' me kinda nervous." The vulgar blonde admitted.

"Being in a bank with costumes like these is so obvious-we're totally robbers." The red girl spoke again.

"You got that right..." The blondie jumped the gun in agreeing.

"It seems there will be a lot of Shadows from here on out." That much was obvious, just not the ATMs.

"Huh? What's that about?" Makoto didn't catch a thing with all the weird terms the Phantom Thieves were using.

"Enemies attack us here." The red girl explained briefly.

"I see." The brevity was appreciated. "I've trained in aikido. Don't worry; I can defend myself." It's then when Minato just witnessed the appearance of a potential female version of Akihiko. He hoped she wouldn't talk about muscles and protein and training so much in the off days.

"Self-defense won't do much good against Shadows, but then again, it's better than nothing." The little companion, named Morgana, said. Someone not wearing any funky outfit would beg to differ but remained silent.

"We have to go in from the front, don't we? I'm an honorary customer, so I better act like one." Makoto further steeled herself.

Minato didn't really care about the chatters, instead distancing himself while checking whether the acting had worked. he touched his face to sense if the usual clear mask had attached itself. The result, negative. No pieces of his clear mask was sensed. It had worked. The next challenge: keeping it that way until it's safe.

"Wait! Shadows might attack you!" It gained the bluenette's attention who was quite a few steps away from the group.

"You might get killed if you go alone, senpai." The new wild card further warned.

Minato almost forgot, but he had to keep up the act. "I don't care." He responded.

"Huh?" They all replied collectively.

"...Is death that scary to you?" He really went in on the acting. It worked, judging by their response. Actually, he never feared death. Instead, he feared losing the bond and attachment he made upon death.

"What...!?"

"Yuki-kun!"

"...Yuki-senpai? Are you okay?"

"...How're you able to say that with a straight face?"

"Holy shit..."

"The thought of death is unsettling...but we should know this already."

Before they could ponder about what made Minato say that, Makoto got them back to focus on the matter, and for Minato to not separate himself from the group.

"Anyway, let's get in..."

Minato rejoined the group, and they followed the many many ATMs into the front door. Immediately, they're greeted by the bank security.

"What business do you have here?" The security asked.

"I knew this would happen." The twin-tailed girl, wearing all red, sighed.

Instead of stating her business, Makoto assumed a stance. "Come at us!"

Minato could swear they all collectively groaned and facepalmed in dismay at Makoto for that response, which was uncalled for.

The blondie stopped her. "No no! Wait!"

"She's one of Kaneshiro's customers." The tall guy further did the saving. It could've gone ugly...

"I'd like to speak with the bank president." This time, Makoto actually stated her business.

The security guard politely asked again, knowing she didn't have harmful intentions. "Do you have an appointment?"

"I'm an honorary customer. I wish to talk to him. Now let me through!" She pressed with urgency.

Minato, who's just observing from the back of the pack, was unsure whether the student council president just lacked manners or she had been bullying her way to whatever she wanted.

"Let them pass." A voice from upstairs called. The security guards stepped aside, giving them the way.

"That voice...it's Kaneshiro!" Makoto realized.

"You mean a bank has a president?" The blondie, having said he rarely went to the bank, asked.

"Yes, it does..." The frizzy-hair in black deadpanned.

"They make good money..." The tall guy in blue added.

"Reception is further to the right. I strongly advise that you do not attempt to go elsewhere." The security guard pointed at the reception.

"Thank you." With that, they walked right in.

The lobby itself was just like any normal bank lobby, except, of course, people were replaced with ATMs. Some were sitting pretty, others looked frigid, while some were lying on the benches. As they arrived at the further right section of the lobby, another guard lead them to the door leading further in. "Reception is just past this door."

At the back of the group, Minato's suspicion was growing. Something about how easy they let them in wasn't right. The party were too busy escorting Makoto while talking to each other to notice anything fishy.

Further down the hall, another security guard took over the escorting. "Reception is just to the right."

Then yet another one took over sometime later, pointing to a specific room. "This is the reception office. Head on inside."

They all entered the room, with a load of money just sitting on the table inviting to be bagged away. Other than that, the room looked fairly normal. Minato deduced that surely those he's with weren't dumb enough to not realize it was most likely a trap. In any case, he looked around, trying to find something he could fight with just in case. Unfortunately, there was nothing worth utilizing.

He decided to look around, ignoring the others, as they all gathered in front of the mountain of money. It's not that he's uninterested, but he'd rather keep it to himself and just do it on his own. Plus, he still had to play the "some other guy" role.

"How many beef bowls could I eat with this...?"

"How many cakes could I eat with this...?"

"How many art supplies could I buy with this...?"

"How many weapons could I buy with this...?"

Then the voice from earlier was heard again. This time, from a speaker. More specifically from the screen in front of the table.

_"Unauthorized entry, property damage, and other disturbances. That comes to three million Yen in total. You're here regarding that, correct, Miss Beautiful President?"_

They all turned to the screen, which revealed a purple man wearing a suit which only moderately resembled Kaneshiro.

_"It must be quite tough gathering so much money. I'd be willing to give you a loan, you know."_

If it's money, Minato had some. In fact, the Velvet Siblings were kind enough to keep hold of his war chest from back in the day, resulting in him starting his new journey with all the money he had.

"You gonna call it off then?" The blondie asked. If anything, the loan would balloon the debt to hell. It's laughable that he didn't know the tricks people would use. Minato knew this because he fell victim to it once, albeit nowhere near even one million Yen.

The man in the screen deadpanned. _"No-a loan, the interest rate is ten percent a day."_

They were left baffled, counting the amount of interest rate before Makoto came up with the exact number: three hundred thousand, per day. There was no way anyone was going to pay that much in a daily basis, not even Minato.

Even the man in the screen knew they weren't going to be able to do it, so he provided an alternative. However, Makoto wasn't fooled. Minato saw through it as soon as he saw the money on the table.

The man in the screen added another spice to the conversation, Makoto's sister. Everyone was surprised that she had such a high profile figure for a sister sans Minato who once heard Konoe referring to her as "Prosecutor's lil sis-san". Though to Minato's respect, Konoe never once tried to pry further than that, nor did he ever expose it to anyone but Tony and him.

In advance, Kaneshiro was a mafia boss, so they should've known that he would have eyes and ears anywhere. Still, he never thought someone like Makoto would ever come to him.

It disgusted everyone in the room. The taunts from the suited purple man only made it worse. All the taunting he did suddenly lead to an ambush as guards spawned around them. It looked like they're going to have to fight.

 _"Anyone will do anything for money. I'll rob you of your lives as easily as I breathe air."_ The man in the screen snickered, followed by a command. _"...Get them."_

Minato reacted, but then it hit him that he mustn't fight, per circumstances. Therefore, he repented from trying to spawn his mask and summon a Persona. Plus, he realized couldn't reveal himself to be a Persona-user...not yet.

Predictably, the guards turned to Shadows, specifically two Chivalrous Guards. From their quotes, they seemed to have a sense of obedience towards the man in the screen from earlier. Minato thought he knew what those were, but he forgot what they're weak to. If he had to guess, they were probably going to be hard to beat with Physical skills judging by their imposing weapons.

"Senpais, get back!" The frizzy hair told his two upperclassmen in the room as he and his friends jumped in to engage them.

Minato hated it that he couldn't fight because of the current circumstances. Though, not all was lost just because he was barred from fighting. He quickly took Makoto and together dragged two of the chairs and used them as cover in the corner of the room, just by the door. He believed she was capable of martial arts, but not everyone could fight those Shadows without Personas like he, and the Persona-users in front of them currently battling the enemies, could.

Whilst taking cover, the opportunity presented itself for him to observe how far they had come since he last saw them fight. It also gave him the chance to study the Persona-users in front of him more. Makoto, too, popped her head out of cover and watched the two parties battled.

It was five against two. The Shadows were losing in numbers. That resulting in the wild card and his friend splitting the battle. He had ordered the tall guy and the cat to concentrate on one Shadow while the blondie and the red girl took over the other one. He was in the middle, filling in the gaps whilst occasionally attacking. Minato had to admit, the new wild card got the gist quickly, just like he did. Using the wild card ability to fill in the gaps was one of his job as field leader of SEES, too.

He then saw some of the Persona-users resort to their ranged weapons as they hadn't manage to knock the enemies down. Regarding the ranged weapons, which were firearms, the biggest questions he had was where they got them and whether they're real or not. He could beg to differ as his ranged weapon was bow and arrow, all too real, gifted the first time he stepped into the Metaverse.

In any case, the Persona-users managed to put down the two Shadows despite not being able to knock them down. But it wasn't over. The backup, taking form of three Chivalrous Guards, arrived. It's looking to become a rinse and repeat process as they worked together to recover each other before they engaged again.

Due to the obvious size advantage of the enemies, it just got more difficult. Instead of splitting the fight, the Persona-users would have to work together. Makoto was too busy looking at the fight to notice Minato getting increasingly itchy on the inside. He was aware of this and hid it the best he could.

As expected, the fight became uglier, spilling all over the room. The Persona users hadn't sustained any damage until the blondie got tossed across the room and over the cover set up by the two bystanders. Whilst Makoto just sat there, not fully knowing what's going on, Minato rushed in to check on the blondie and dragged him into cover. That gave the blondie a chance to get a little breather. He thanked Minato for dragging him to cover, then jumped back in and immediately defeated one Chivalrous Guards.

One of the Chivalrous Guards managed to push the red girl to one corner of the room, back against the wall. Her teammates were occupied with the other enemy except for the blondie butt in to help, summoning his Persona although whatever attack he aimed at it had missed. At least, that managed to divert the enemy's attention elsewhere, or so they thought.

With the shaft of its weapon, the enemy swept the blondie's leg, knocking him on the floor. Then unexpectedly, it swung thrust its weapon to a different direction, specifically to where the red girl was standing. She managed to dodge the thrust, though only just. She then miraculously somersaulted over a horizontal slash before shifting left to avoid a rising vertical slash. Unfortunately, the dodging got her backed up against the wall, again.

The blondie was quite a distance away and the red girl could get hit and get killed any moment then. It prompted Minato to help. He looked to where the red girl was, and ran towards her.

Makoto tried to stop him. "Yuki-kun! Stop!" But he didn't listen.

He grabbed the tail attached to the red girl, and yanked her out of the way of the incoming attack. It wasn't over as the enemy still had its sight on the red girl so he quickly grabbed her and dragged her back into cover with the enemy chasing. Fortunately, the blondie had recovered, and managed to defeat the enemy with the zap from his Persona.

"Thanks, Skull..." The red girl looked up to the blondie. "...and thanks, senpai." She also thanked Minato for saving her. The blondie pulled her back up and they looked at the direction of the last enemy which had also just been defeated.

They thought the fight was over, but then yet another reinforcement arrived, with even more Shadows.

"What the-there's no end to them! Have they really been hired with money...!?"

"Guys, let's get outta here!"

They had no choice but to get out of there with the current situation escalating fast.

"This way!" Minato told them as he opened the door and shoved Makoto out first before holding it for the wild card and his friends to get out.

"Why did the security guards turn into monsters!? And what are those supernatural powers?" Makoto, while running, managed to save some breath and asked away. "Could those have been the Personas you mentioned...!?"

"Does now really look like the time to be asking that...?" The cat was mildly annoyed by this. "We need to retreat! Makoto, make sure you don't get separated from us!"

Both people named Makoto nodded.

They didn't know where else to go except the front door. As they arrived at the lobby, they got intercepted again. As they're held to a stalemate, the man on the screen earlier appeared, greeting his "customers".

"You seem to be quite a pickle..."

"How dare you sneak around, Kaneshiro...!"

"Those would be my words. However, I do thank you for providing me with such wonderful goods." The suit-wearer looked at the intruders in front of him. He was right about the sneaking bit. "...It's time you disappear."

Two more guards appeared, adding the count to four. They were surrounded. Whilst others, even Makoto, flinched, he just stood there, hands in pockets, with his posture leaning slightly backwards.

"Managing a bank is tough-that's why I make it a case to kill troublesome customers. Having one impertinent brat disappear is enough to set an example in that other world."

"Please stop!"

Minato thought Makoto was going to put up a fight, but nothing yet so far.

"I'll eliminate others besides my goods. You've no need to worry." The shadow moved on to another matter "Your sister is quite a beauty though. I'll make sure to make her my personal slave. Once I get bored, I'll just sell her off. Oh, poor Sis... She could've been successful, if only her younger sister wasn't so dumb."

"My sister has nothing to do with this!"

"Then you better start taking customers tomorrow. All you gotta do is endure it and do as you're told."

"Endure it... Do as I'm told."

"You'll earn three million yen in no time. Although, your life and everything along with it will be a complete wreck by then!"

Whilst the rambling was going on, Minato was facing a dilemma.

At one side, he must keep playing "some other guy" for the sake of maintaining the secret that was him being a Persona-user. It barred him from even trying to fight the Shadows. At the other, the new wild card and his friends were already hammered and if the onslaught kept up without him doing anything, everyone would die. Ending up dead would fail his assignment as much as getting found out would.

For once, he couldn't just leave it to fate. He concentrated, trying to make his mask appear in order to summon a Persona. But then...

"I've been listening to you go on and on... Shut your damn mouth, you money-grubbing asshole!"

It's the first time he heard the usually soft-spoken Makoto talk that way. Along with it, he sensed a surge of power from the girl.

Then she spoke, as if responding to something. "Yes... Come to me!"

She began experiencing a great headache. She tried containing it, stomping her feet to the floor. But from the look of it, the headache became greater and she was covered in sweat all over.

Then, Minato witnessed it, a mask formed on her face, just like it did with him. She grabbed the mask, and then ripped it off. Along with it, a surge of power encapsulated her. Minato, who was the closest, had to cover his eyes at the blinding surge.

As the surge was starting to clear, he heard an engine voice, it revved a few times before revealing Makoto garbed in her own unique outfit sitting on her Persona, taking form of a motorcycle. He had to do a double take, though he hardly flinched. The sight of a ride-able Persona was certainly an interesting one.

All of a sudden, she raced and swept the guards off their feet. It flinched the purple man in the suit, which forced him to retreat and ordered the guards to take them out.

"I will not lose heart again, ever. I will go full speed, non stop...right, Johanna!?"

So that was the name of the Persona, Johanna, as Minato noted.

The Phantom Thieves had been rejuvenated at the sight of a new Persona-user among them. They quickly joined in and assisted Makoto, who was still sitting on her Persona.

As for Minato, he didn't need to be told to know that he had to get back and out of the way. Before that, he checked the front door and predictably, it's locked. He used the benches as cover and hid in disappointment as the battle went on and all the ATMs around him scrambled all over the place.

As for the fight, with the help of Makoto, they disposed of them a lot quicker than earlier. Makoto's sweep with her bike-sona along with the Nuke spells made it a cake walk. They won the battle in no time.

However, as good as they were, they're getting tired and the guards kept on coming. They absolutely had to get out of there.

Makoto summoned her Persona and got on it. "Yuki-kun! Get on!" Knowing Minato was the most vulnerable, she instinctively told him to get on the Persona and they raced away, blasting through the locked front door and out of the scene. The Phantom Thieves followed closely behind. Once they reached the Teikyu building accessway in the real world, they stopped running, knowing they're safe.

As Makoto caught her breath, the wild card and his friends believe an introduction of themselves to the other upperclassman was due. They took turns, starting with the tall guy.

"Yusuke Kitagawa, art major student at Kosei High..."

"Ann Takamaki, second-year at Shujin."

"I'm Ryuji Sakamoto, also second-year at Shujin."

"...and I'm Akira Kurusu, second year transfer student at Shujin." The new wild card introduced the cat in the bag. "This is Morgana."

"Just don't call him a cat, you'll quickly get on his bad side..."

"Makoto Yuki." Minato re-introduced himself after all that. "...Niijima-san already said much, so I don't have anything else to say."

"There's a guy Makoto and a girl Makoto..." The new wild card pointed out.

"Are you really talking about that...?" Ann rolled her eyes.

"Well, he's just just sayin'... I mean, we're all on first-name basis here...might get confusin' down the road." Ryuji had a point.

"Just call me Yuki." Minato gave the solution since it might get confusing for them. "...I don't jump into first names with people I just know." He added. He seriously didn't know they were that lax towards each other, not that he was in the place to judge.

"Though it's odd that he didn't awaken..." Morgana really just shifted the topic to the fact that Minato didn't awaken. It made everyone think. Little did they knew he had it all along and he was concealing it back in the world, called a "Palace", as Morgana explained in the crash course.

"How is Niijima-san awakening hers and Yuki-san isn't?" Yusuke was also wondering about that.

"Beats me..." While Ann had no idea.

"So that means not everyone can awaken to a Persona?" Akira asked Morgana.

"...I don't know." The cat condescended. It's clear that he was looked up to as the expert in the group. But even some things eluded him.

Minato related Makoto's awakening just now and how it was for him back in the day. When the Dark Hour existed, it's either one had it or not. The deciding factor was whether one would get transmogrified into a coffin or not. Even then, only those with strong consciousness was deemed to possess the "potential" and can summon a Persona, otherwise they'd turn into Shadows instead.

Anyhow, Minato still had to play along with it. He pulled a relieved look as if he'd never wanted to see something like that ever again. "I'm not interested in getting back in there." Though he's sure now that they're able to get in the bank, it opened up the opportunity for him to just go on his own.

They seemed to respect his decision. Even so, the cat had other things in mind. "There's still room for a trustworthy associate in the real world... We'd like you to keep it a secret."

"Can we trust you, Yuki-san?" They all turned towards Minato, expecting his trust.

Minato nodded, followed by a little affirmation. "For now, I won't say anything." Though, he should be the one doing the trusting. After all, his whole assignment had been put on the line. "Do as you say and I'll pretend any of this never happened."

"Thank you."

"It's what we do, senpai!"

"Please believe in us."

With that affirmation, there's nothing else Minato wanted to say. So he walked away, leaving the group to talk about whatever they wanted to.

Though he didn't mind leaving it to them, he's not going to let them fail. Therefore, he decided to put together a training regime to get himself ready to assist them. Of course, he mustn't get found out as usual.

Being with them only for a short while also shed light on their purpose, which was to help people. Before all that, he didn't deny the possibility of them doing it for the giggles or for their own agenda due to the possibility. It's not quite clear yet, but the experience had all but confirmed what their true intentions were.

Tuesday. June 21st, 2017.

That morning, Minato was out early to go to school. However, he was feeling rather sleepy so he decided to get some coffee at Leblanc before setting off.

Whilst he was enjoying his coffee, Sojiro put a plate of curry on the table as the sound of footsteps could be heard from the stairs. As the figure emerged, it turned out to be Akira Kurusu, the new wild card. They had bumped into each other a couple of times already, but neither of them knew the lived in the same vicinity.

Akira couldn't hold back a surprised look whilst Minato was just sitting there, sipping his coffee without care of the world.

"I'd like to introduce you to-" Sojiro spoke, but Akira cut him off.

"...Good morning, Yuki-senpai." Akira greeted the upperclassman.

"...Morning." Minato glanced at Akira, then back to his coffee.

"So you've met each other..." Sojiro deduced. "Well, that's not surprising at all considering you go to the same school..."

Akira sat down at the bar to have breakfast whilst Minato finished his coffee. He politely refused Sojiro's offer for some curry as he already had breakfast on his own. Though, the curry looked tempting and he might get that the next time he went to the cafe.

The two transfer students inadvertently ended up going to school together. It was quiet as the bluenette didn't seem to be interesting in conversing, as evident by the earphones he put on as soon as they stepped out of the cafe. When they arrived at the school, they went separate ways as their classrooms were located in different floors.

The classes went on, and suddenly, it's lunchtime. For once, Makoto didn't storm out of the classroom but instead stayed at her desk and took out her lunch. For the two peas in the pod, they finally got the chance to talk to her.

"Those look good, Niijima-san..." Konoe's head popped from behind her. Then a hand with chopsticks flew towards her boxed lunch. "...May I?"

"I made too much this morning anyway..." Makoto sighed. That's the green light for Konoe to take a piece of her lunch.

"You're acting like a kid." Tony suddenly swept in, taking the piece in Konoe's chopsticks with his mouth. "Get your lunch out, dude."

"Ahhh, how could you!?" Konoe looked at the now empty chopsticks. But that's not his top concern. "Now I have to get new goddamned chopsticks, man!"

Konoe rushed out to the cafeteria and back in record time with new chopsticks in hand as the others started eating. The lunch was quiet even though there were others rambling about things in the background.

Halfway through the lunch, Tony decided it's the perfect time to apologize to Makoto. "Niijima..." He spoke up, putting his chopsticks down. "...I'm sorry."

Makoto looked puzzled. "What for?"

"...For what I said the other day." Tony explained the reason for the apology. "I know you're just doing your job, but it hurts that you just resigned to getting stepped on all the time..."

"...It's OK. What you said the other day was true, Tony-kun..." Makoto explained. "But I'm not going to act like that anymore."

"What do you mean, Prez?" Konoe paused munching his lunch to ask.

"I'm my own self. I'm not going to let myself get controlled around like before..." Makoto answered. Minato could sense the resolve that followed from her gaining her Persona. "Of course, that doesn't mean I'm neglecting my job as the council president."

"You got your work cut out for you, Niijima. We won't lose faith in you no matter what. So go get them." Tony chuckled. He was obviously relieved.

"Thanks for worrying about me..." Makoto was aware that fellow students had been feeling bitter towards her as the student council president for some time so it's assuring to know she still had some support left.

"But still, that egghead deserves some payback! Should we orchestrate something to make you feel better?" Konoe was obviously salty at the principal. Something Tony, and to an extent Minato, could attest to.

"We're not launching a coup on the school administration." Though after failing to get dirt on Kamoshida, Tony would rather not challenge any case again, ever.

"Don't." Makoto forbade them anyway. "I'd rather not see you two get expelled."

"Fine..." Konoe resigned.

Luckily, none of them brought up Makoto getting taken away by some unknown people, though they could've sworn some students were talking about it. Since no one could confirm it, the talk remained a mere rumor, something Makoto and Minato were relieved of.

As they spend the rest of lunchtime talking to each other, Minato just sat there, thinking about various things. One of the things in his mind was how he's going to visit the Velvet Room safely from there on. For that, he would have to be careful. Normally he'd go there as soon as he's out of the school building but with the door located in the same vicinity where a Palace had spawned, he'd rather not sneak out of it everytime he exited the Velvet Room.

As planned earlier, he decided to go back to his apartment after school and wait until it's dark out to go to the Velvet Room. The conversation he's going to have would be an interesting one and he's looking forward to it.


End file.
